Aincrad's Flame
by FoxBlitz
Summary: The second coming of Sozin's Comet did not end well for Zuko. However his story isn't quite over just yet. Embarking on a new journey, the young firebender finds himself immersed within a world full of monsters and swords as he attempts to survive and win his way back home.
1. From the Ashes

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Avatar: The Last Airbender or Sword Art Online.

**Chapter 1 - From the Ashes  
**

"No lightning today? What's the matter? Afraid I'll redirect it?" taunted Zuko as he settled into his ready stance.

Picking herself up from her brother's latest counter, Azula was foaming at the mouth. "Oh, I'll show you lightning." The air around the dueling siblings cooled several degrees as the fire princess prepared her attack. Blue sparks began erupting from the ground as Azula drew the lightning within her and crafted it to take form.

Taking a deep breath, Zuko readied himself. This was the final strike. All he had to do was absorb the raw power of lightning into himself, channel its raging strength, and redirect it back at his sister. Simple; nothing to it.

Golden eyes from both siblings narrowed as each taunted the other to make a mistake. There, in the tense gaze amidst the maelstrom of raging lightning, Zuko saw his sister's eyes shift. It was moment later that his mind pieced together what was about to happen and his heart sank.

"NNNNNOOOOOOOO!" shouted Zuko as he took two steps to his left and jumped in front of his sister's attack, pulling the lightning within himself; however, with his feet in the air and not planted firmly on the ground, the lightning was free to ravage his body.

The fire prince landed on the courtyard in a crumpled heap, blue sparks crackling around his body as he continued to spasm uncontrollably. All his senses were screaming out in pain. Faintly, he thought he heard his partner call out his name in shock. He willed his body to stand, but it refused to obey him. He could barely make out Katara running from fire blasts that his sister was freely launching from the roof of the nearby walkway with reckless laughter and cruel taunts. But there was nothing he could do to continue the fight.

His vision swam as his body continued to clench and shutdown, the lightning having done its damage. He had failed. He had faced his sister in single combat. She may have fought underhandedly, but that was expected from her. It didn't change the fact that he had failed. Again.

Suddenly there was someone at his side. Zuko felt that cooling presence of healing water spread over his chest. He could feel its curative effects wash over his wounds, but he knew that it wasn't going to be enough. In that single blast, his heart had been hit directly. Even now, he could hear it beating irregularly. He didn't have long.

Fighting away his blurry vision, Zuko looked up at Katara's grieving face, her eyes struggling to hold back the tears. "It's okay," he somehow managed, his voice barely above a whisper. A faint smile graced his somber face. At least the southern waterbender managed to succeed where he had failed. "You won. You beat her."

"No!" yelled Katara defiantly. "If I can't save you, then we didn't win anything! You're going to pull through this! Azula can't win!"

Zuko felt the healing effects of the cleansing water redouble against his chest. His heart continued to beat fainter and fainter. His placed his hand on top of Katara's; the water she was working with falling to the ground as her bending was disrupted. The pained look in her eyes tore at his heart harder than any lightning strike ever could. "It's okay," he barely managed a second time as his vision finally faded and he fell silent.

At this Katara could no longer hold back the tears that now fell unreservedly down her face. Looking down at Zuko's tranquil expression, she leaned in and kissed him fiercely and freely as she willed him to stay alive. A few minutes later, several members of the Order of the White Lotus spilled into the courtyard to find a grieving waterbender weeping without restraint; her face buried on top of the fire prince's chest.

* * *

A town united with benders of all types. Fire, Water, Air, and Earth all living together in harmony. Avatar Aang standing watch ever steadfast over this symbol of peace and unity. A shadow slowly creeping towards this ray of light. Zuko awoke with a start.

"Where?" he started as he looked around. A small grove of bamboo encircled him as a light mist graced the dirt ground and slowly floated throughout the shoots. Both a sun and a moon were visible high in the sky and casting an odd sense of a twilight dawn.

A pebble struck the fire prince in the back of the head. "What the?" Turning, Zuko was struck again with another pebble, this time in the forehead. Before him was an old looking monkey sitting on a tree stump who appeared to be in the middle of meditating. "That hurt you jerk!"

"Then quit interrupting my meditation. You're the fourth thoughtless hooligan that's disturbed me in the last decade and the second in the last year," snapped back the monkey spirit with a slight growl.

"Fine, just point me in the direction out of here and I'm gone," grumbled Zuko as he stood up. "I don't have time to bother with an irritable monkey. I just need to figure out where I am and how I can get back to my friends."

A gap in the bamboo grove opened up and a path disappeared into the mist. "That should take you somewhere," dismissed the monkey disinterestedly. "Follow that."

The fire prince eyed the path suspiciously. "And where exactly will this lead me?"

"Away from me. Now begone!" bellowed the monkey as a small cyclone developed from his screech and pushed Zuko through the opening as the bamboo grove closed behind him.

Enraged, Zuko attempted to summon up his firebending to torch the bamboo shoots and give that monkey spirit a piece of his mind. However, no flame or ember heeded his call. "Just great," mumbled Zuko as he tried a few more times to beckon his inner fire to him. "My bending is gone again. I wonder if there are any passing dragons nearby that can help me out." He finished that last bit with a small smile.

Looking down the path, Zuko couldn't see how far it went or what awaited him further in. "Doesn't look like I have much choice." He had only taken a few steps when the surroundings started to change around him and he quickly found himself on a beach with a bonfire glowing lively on the sands. Around the fire was a mix of individuals, some of which felt oddly familiar to Zuko.

There was a giant panda rocking back and forth gnawing on a piece of bamboo, a massive white wolf curled up in a ball with his tail flicking in rhythm with the crackle of the flames, and a wizened owl perched on top of an overturned log watching regally over the rest of the animal spirits. Looking harder, the fire prince noticed numerous human shapes between the animals as well, the most distinguished of which was a floating lady with a veiled wei mao style hat. Several small foxes were running among the gathered individuals, delivering scrolls and bits of food. Slowly approaching the gathering, Zuko was about to speak up when he suddenly felt a hand place itself on his shoulder.

"I would advise against interrupting them great grandson," warned the owner of the hand on Zuko's shoulder with a stern expression on his face. "They are preparing to meet with Lord Death."

Spinning to look at the individual, Zuko paused abruptly in shock. The man in front of him looked familiar, as if he had seen his face before. Suddenly the tapestries hanging in the Fire Palace's Grand Hall flashed in his mind. "Avatar Roku?!"

Chuckling slightly, the elderly Avatar placed his other hand on Zuko's other shoulder as the two stood face to face with one another. "Don't be so surprised Zuko. There are many more outrageous things than a grandfather seeing his great grandson. Now let me look at you. You're growing your hair out; it looks good. And you have your mother's eyes."

Shaking his head, Zuko broke away from his great grandfather's grip. "What's going on here?" he demanded as he pointed his finger at an amused looking Roku. "You're dead! You have been for a long time."

The smile on Roku's face didn't waver as he weathered Zuko's accusations. "I'm an Avatar," he said simply as if that explained everything.

"So is a scatterbrained friend of mine," countered the fire prince. "That doesn't explain anything."

Before Roku could elaborate further, a lightning strike flashed down in front of the bonfire followed quickly by a deafening thunderclap. A dark robed individual walked out of the light accompanied by a dazzling woman dressed in an elegant evening gown.

"Looks like the main event is finally starting," announced a blue masked creature as he walked up behind Avatar Roku. "Lord Death and Lady Luck have arrived."

All the spirits assembled on the beach bowed deeply in respect to the new arrivals. The messenger foxes quickly delivered trays full of delicacies and flasks of exotic wines to the head table that had been set up. Lord Death and Lady Luck took their seats at the front of the assembly as the other spirits settled themselves in.

Still confused, Zuko whispered again to Roku, "What is going on? Who are those people over there?" As he looked over to the blue masked persona, he added, "And are you…?"

"Yes," answered the mask gruffly. "The Blue Spirit, who you so freely exploited to fit your own needs." A dao broadsword was pressed against Zuko's neck as the Blue Spirit swept up behind the fire prince with a graceful fluidness to his motions. "Don't think I've forgotten or forgiven you for pretending to be me, you troublesome brat. One twist of my wrist and this whole assembly over there becomes pointless."

"Enough Blue," demanded Roku sternly. "If you do that, then Lord Death will not forgive you for wasting his precious time."

"Tsk," spat out the Blue Spirit as he lightly pressed down on his blade enough for a faint whisper of blood to tickle down Zuko's neck before he removed his sword. "Don't think this will be our last encounter boy." He slinked off into the shadows.

Wiping the blood off his neck, Zuko growled back to the retreating form, "Don't you dare think you'll catch me off guard next time." A haunting laugh echoing in the darkness was the only response he got.

"That's what you get for masquerading around as a vengeful spirit," chided Avatar Roku to his great grandson. Then with a smile, "Though I guess it's only natural for you to play with fire."

With an irritated scowl, Zuko turned back to his great grandfather. "And you! You still haven't told me anything!" He pointed back at the assembly. "What is that all about!?"

"Your future," answered Avatar Roku as he began walking towards the gathered spirits.

"What?" replied Zuko, stunned. He realized that his great grandfather had already taken a spot near a giant dragon that had curled itself up and was blowing smoke out from its mouth, listening to the going-ons of the assembly with disinterest. Not seeing a better location, he followed with a frown.

"Now that all the pleasantries are out of the way, we can finally get down to the heart of the matter," announced a nondescript spirit wearing a fancy tailored dress robe. "Lord Death has called this meeting in order to discuss the fate of the firebender named Zuko. In life, he was the exiled prince of the Fire Nation for those of you who have not heard of him. Born eighty three years after the initial arrival of Sozin's Comet; first born child of Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Ursa. Died 100 ASC at the hands of his younger sister Azula. Had he survived the encounter, he would have gone on to lead the Fire Nation to an age of prosperity and reconstruction during his sixty seven year reign."

"Had he survived?" parroted Zuko to himself.

"Lord Death was not supposed to have reaped this soul for at least another seventy nine years according to his records. However," pausing momentarily to glance over at Lady Luck who was nonchalantly playing with a piece of chocolate cake on her plate, the announcing spirit continued, "due to a pure twist of random chance, the fire prince found his life expectancy cut short."

Several murmurs broke out amongst the gathered spirits at this reveal. It was definitely unlike Lord Death to allow discrepancies in his work. The King of the Underworld prided himself on his ability to control the delicate balance between the living and the dead. Many of the spirits were too young to even remember Lord Death ever making a miscalculation like this and their confusion was easily apparent. On the other hand, the older spirits glanced at one another solemnly as they all remembered that the last time an error like this was made, the courses of action that followed were tantamount to torture for the unfortunate soul upon whom the infraction was initially made.

Clearing his voice loudly enough to stop everyone's whispers, the announcing spirit continued, "Interestingly enough, it seems that the Fire Nation will still be led to an age of peace and reconstruction under one Fire Lady Mai." Zuko's eyes widen at this announcement. "Imprisoned by Fire Princess Azula before the second coming of Sozin's comet, Lady Mai was released from captivity by her uncle during the confusion in the Fire Nation after Avatar Aang's victory over Fire Lord Ozai. After hearing about the fate of Fire Prince Zuko, Lady Mai quickly rallied support by revealing the atrocities of Fire Lord Ozai and Fire Princess Azula and promising to bring around change to the Fire Nation. Motivated by her no-nonsense, straightforward attitude and her unwillingness to bend a knee to old hardliners still calling for Fire Lord Ozai's return to power, Lady Mai quickly found overwhelming favor in the Fire Nation youth and surprisingly from the current Avatar himself."

Zuko couldn't believe what he was hearing. With his passing, the Fire Nation hadn't torn itself apart from internal squabbling amongst its generals, ambassadors, and minor lords fighting for power. What he hadn't counted on was Mai rallying his people to embrace the changing future. Thinking on the notion, it wasn't that he was surprised that she had the mental strength to lead the nation and command the people fairly, but that she had the motivation to do so. He had never known Mai to volunteer for anything on her own before.

Still lost in his thought, Zuko almost didn't hear the nondescript announcing spirit as he carried on with his speech. "Fire Lord Ozai is locked away in prison, Fire Princess Azula has been institutionalized from her mental breakdown, and the Fire Nation is on back on track with its role in history." The spirit's eyes homed in on Zuko who countered with a scowl. "All without Fire Prince Zuko." Pausing once more for dramatic effect, the spirit motioned to Lord Death. "And this finally leads us back to Lord Death's dilemma. Even without Fire Prince Zuko, the world continues on track towards its predestined future. With this turn of events, Lord Death finds little reason to bother with attempting to correct this oversight." Avatar Roku stood quickly to protest, however the spirit wasn't yet finished. "Nevertheless, since Lord Death is a kind and caring Ruler of the Underworld, he wishes to hear if any of the Spirit World could provide him with a reason to grant Fire Prince Zuko with a second chance."

Once again before Avatar Roku could argue his case, he was beaten to the punch. "That troublesome brat is nothing more than an unruly disaster waiting to happen," came an authoritative female voice from the other side of the assembly. The owner was dressed in full ceremonial Kyoshi warrior armor.

"Ah, Avatar Kyoshi," greeted the announcing spirit. "Care to elaborate on that comment?"

Pointing at Zuko accusingly, the former earth-born Avatar pressed on, "This little upstart entered my home village with his crew of Fire Nation soldiers and proceeded to burn it to the ground during his search for Avatar Aang. His rash behavior caused the needless destruction of numerous homes, the senseless violence to multiple innocents, and the unlawful conduct of a tyrant. He's not worth the effort of a second chance."

The moon sparkled brightly in the sky as a spirit in the form of a giant fish materialized in the water. The ocean's tides swelled onto the beach but were held back from washing over the assembly of spirits by an unseen wall. "Greeting Lord La, unwavering sentinel of the ocean," acknowledged the announcing spirit.

"I agree with Avatar Kyoshi," bellowed out the loud voice of Lord La. "The actions of this Zuko indirectly led to the death of my beloved Tui. His seizure of Avatar Aang in the Northern Water Tribe's Spirit Oasis caused all the possible defenders located there to chase after him and allowed Zhao easy access to my beloved."

Turning to face Zuko, Lord La continued, "His lack of foresight caused an imbalance in natural order of the world. For that I see no reason to grant him a second chance at anything."

A whisper of dark smoke encircled near the bonfire as it condensed into the shape of the Blue Spirit. "He used my name to commit multiple acts of reckless violence and petty acts of thievery against those who barely had enough to sustain themselves," accused the Blue Spirit. Grinning, he continued, "Now I'm a vengeful guy, but even I can't stand the selfish and trivial purposes that this lowlife used my name to perpetrate."

Glancing at Lord Death out of the corner of his eye, the announcing spirit noticed a slight nod. "It appears that Lord Death has heard enough, it seems that…"

Erupting a torrent of fire breath into the sky, the elder dragon roared in discontent. Avatar Roku petted his dragon partner approvingly. "Thank you Fang. I couldn't have said that better myself." Narrowing his eyes at the announcer in distain, Roku took a few steps forward. "I can't help feel as though all the supporters of my great grandchild are being suppressed from being allowed a chance to speak."

"Oh by all means," granted the announcing spirit; then addressing the amassed assembly of spirits, "Are there any here who wish to speak on behalf Fire Prince Zuko before Lord Death expresses his decision?"

A couple of moments passed with no one stepping forward. Zuko could feel his old anger returning inside of him. He glanced at Roku who was just standing there calmly with a slight smile on his face. '_Even you don't have anything to say_?' he irritably thought to himself. '_Fine, if no one wishes to fight for me, then I'll just do it myself_.'

However, before the fire prince could open his mouth, a tiny voice whispered throughout the silence. "He saved me." Heads spun to find the owner of the meek voice. Looking down near the back end of the assembly, Zuko spied a small turtle crab walking forward with several smaller turtle crabs walking behind it. "As a child, he saved me from being eaten by an eagle hawk." The turtle crab began to glow as it transformed into a humanoid water spirit. "And ever since then, Fire Prince Zuko has always looked out for the weak, the helpless, and the feeble."

"And we can support that claim!" came a proud voice of a Fire Nation sergeant as he materialized in front of Zuko with several ghostly forms of other backwater village-born Fire Nation soldiers behind him. The sergeant spoke again, this time directly to Zuko, "We were among the soldiers that Ozai sacrificed to distract a battalion of veteran Earth Kingdom benders. My men and I heard about how you were the only one on the Fire Council to argue on our behalf and how you were banished for it." All of the gathered troops dropped sharply to kneel before Zuko in respect. "We may not have met in life sir, but all of us gathered here would be honored to follow you anywhere."

Lord Death slammed the wooden hilt of his scythe onto the sand and the ghostly Fire Nation soldiers began to dissipate; the sergeant standing once more to render a full salute before, he too, vanished. Zuko remained staring at the empty plot of beach sand where the soldiers had briefly been occupying in shock. He felt the traces of a tear falling from his unburned right eye as he slowly wiped it away and returned a sharp salute to the already evaporated form of the Fire Nation sergeant. "I should have done more for you all," he whispered more to himself than anyone else.

An elegant woman floated to the center of the assembly near the bonfire, an opaque veil of mist surrounding her. "There are also those in the four nations whose entire worlds have been turned upside down from the loss of Fire Prince Zuko. Most importantly, from the Southern…"

"Painted Lady, if you are referring to the Dragon of the West, then that change has already been noted and investigated," interrupted the announcing spirit dismissively. "It is an unfortunate side effect; however, his time and contributions to the overall balance of the world have passed. Instead of living out the rest of his days in peace, he will spend them in mourning. It is regrettable, but hardly worth consideration into this matter."

"Shut up!" shouted Zuko in a rage, no longer able to hold his anger in check. Lady Luck looked up from playing with her desert, her eyes perking up in interest as a wide smile began to spread across her face. Lord Death shifted in his seat as well as he turned his hooded head towards the infuriated young firebender. "How dare you disregard my uncle like that! He has suffered and bled for the Fire Nation and the rest of the world! You can berate me all you want! I can take it!" Zuko started to storm towards the center of the assembly as Avatar Roku followed quietly behind him. "But you will not speak poorly of my uncle!"

His face turning angry as well, the announcing spirit started, "Now you listen here, you little…"

"I said, Shut up!" yelled back Zuko again to silence the spirit. Approaching the Painted Lady, he caged his temper back within himself. Bowing, he addressed her, "Honorable Spirit, please. Tell me how my uncle is doing." The Painted Lady seemed unsure of herself for a moment. "Please," pleaded Zuko a second time.

Sighing, the elegant spirit shook her head, "You will not like what I have to say." She looked once more into the imploring eyes of Zuko.

"I need to know," he countered.

She remained silent for another couple of moments as Zuko waited, visibly fighting his impatience to start yelling again. "He is heartbroken," the Painted Lady said at last. "He took the loss of his favorite nephew very hard; almost to the point of Lord Death making an appearance for him as well." Zuko's fists tightened sharply as his whole body tensed up.

Roku placed his hand on his great grandson's shoulder once again. "Calm down grandson. She is merely recounting what has already come to pass. There is nothing you can do right now." Zuko shrugged off the helping hand.

"Having lost both his own son and the nephew who he treated like his second son, Iroh would have lost himself in grief had it not been for one resilient little earthbender. She checks on him in his tea shop in Ba Sing Se everyday and keeps him company with jokes and funny stories. She views him as the loving grandfather she never had and seeing him in such a despairing state has left her troubled as well."

'_Thank you Toph_,' thought Zuko silently to himself. '_Uncle has endured so much in his life. My failure shouldn't be his burden as well. Please take care of him until I return_.'

"Death!" demanded Zuko loudly as he spun around to face the King of the Underworld directly. "Your mouthpiece said something about had I survived the fight with my sister, then I would have gone on to become Fire Lord and would have brought peace and prosperity to my country. Then why am I dead?! It sounds like this shouldn't have happened!" With an outstretched hand, Zuko motioned to the assembly of gathered spirits. "There's no way that every person who dies gets their very own gathering of spirits to judge them on their life choices. You made a mistake and are trying to justify your blunder in front of an audience! I demand that you restore me to the world of the living immediately!"

Silence loomed instantly over the crowd. The exiled prince had just called out Lord Death on his error. A mere mortal had just commanded the Grim Reaper. Even the older spirits in the assembly were speechless as nothing like this had ever been witnessed before. Avatar Roku was at a loss for words as he looked at his great grandson with a pained expression on his face. Zuko remained steadfast, defiant eyes burning with fire, as he continued to glare at Lord Death.

With his dark hood covering his features, it was impossible to get a read on Death's face. The Reaper stood slowly and wordlessly as he pulled his scythe from the sand. He didn't make a move forward from his seat. Instead, he just stood there measuring up Zuko from behind his hooded robe.

Without warning a feminine laugh broke the silence followed quickly with a light touch of applause. "This is just too good!" laughed Lady Luck from her seat next to Lord Death. "Ever since you were just a boy, you have been such an entertaining plaything."

Zuko's anger wasted no time switching targets. "What are you talking about?!"

With a smirk on her flawless face, Lady Luck blew a kiss at the fire prince. "I'm talking about you love. Your misfortune has always been my favorite source of comedy." Suddenly changing her facial expressions from being amused to feinting grief, she pouted in Lord Death's direction. "Deathy here hardly ever lets me have any fun. He always says that people should forge their own luck." She stuck out her tongue at the Eternal Reaper.

The rage flowing through Zuko right now could seen pouring out of the fire prince in spades. "Are you…" he struggled to form a sentence. "Are you telling me that my life! My struggles! My death! All of it! It was all just some sort of cruel joke to you?!"

The mischievous grin on Lady Luck's visage was all the proof that Zuko needed. With a cry of anguish, the fire prince charged straight towards the Mistress of Fortune. With a snap of her fingers however, the sand beneath Zuko's feet turned to smooth glass. Losing his footing, the fire prince tumbled head over heels before colliding with a sand dune. The laughter from Lady Luck echoed even louder across the beach.

"This is rich!" she taunted. "It never gets old! I control your luck at my whim. Do you honestly think that charging at me like a dumb ox-bull is going to do anything?" Then with a contemplative expression, "Actually…please try that again. I just thought of an even better way to throw you across the beach."

Before Zuko could reattempt his reckless charge, Avatar Roku stood before the enraged fire prince. "Enough!" He bowed deeply in respect to both Lord Death and Lady Luck. "Please forgive my great grandson's foolishness."

"Ever the moderator Roku," chided Lady Luck. Then she gave Zuko a wink. "I could never hate my little princey-wincy. He's just too entertaining." Lady Luck felt Lord Death step up behind her. She waved him off with her hand. "Fine, fine, I'll relent for now."

Zuko attempted to bypass the elder Avatar; however, he quickly found his legs swept out from underneath him and forced onto his knees in a low bow. He struggled to stand again, but to no avail as his arms were pinned behind his back. "Ask for forgiveness now," ordered Roku in a harsh whisper into the ear of his great grandson.

"What?!" snapped back Zuko as he continued to struggle. "There's absolutely no reason for me to do that! You heard that scheming witch! She got me killed to satisfy her own twisted amusement!"

"I understand that," chided Roku. "I meant apologize to Lord Death. You just insulted him in a manner similar as to when you spoke out against one of your father's generals in his war room."

That stopped Zuko cold. Ceasing his struggles, he took a calming breathe. The beach was silent for another couple of moments before, "Forgive me for my insolence, Lord Death," said Zuko through clenched teeth. "I meant you no disrespect."

The silence over the beach continued even after the apology as several of the gathered spirits shifted nervously. Avatar Roku released his grandson; however, Zuko remained bowed in the sand, unmoving.

Lord Death beckoned to his announcing spirit from earlier, who quickly approached his master's side. After listening to his master for a few moments, the spirit appeared to give Lord Death a swift double-take before bowing and returning to his podium.

Coughing to clear his voice, the announcing spirit addressed the entire assembly of spirits. "Lord Death has made his decision! After taking into account all the given testimonies and in light of recent evidence," the announcing spirit gave a quick glance to Lady Luck, who merely brushed him off with a wave from the back of her hand, "Fire Prince Zuko will be given a chance to regain his life."

The spirit allowed the assembly a moment to absorb his declaration. Almost immediately a protest was heard. "What?!" demanded the Blue Spirit. "Didn't you just see how much of a loose cannon this troublesome brat is?!"

"Lord Death has made his decision, lesser spirit," the announcing spirit spat out. "You would do well to respect the wishes of the King of the Underworld."

Drawing a sword, the Blue Spirit pointed it at the announcer. "Lesser spirit? I dare you to call me that one more time. You'll be dead before you finish you filthy mouthpiece."

A wave of pressure flowed across the beach as Lord Death slammed his scythe into the sand. "Tsk," cursed the Blue Spirit as he sheathed his blade. With a simple smoke bomb, he was gone.

Wasting no time, the announcing spirit continued as if nothing had just interrupted him. "Fire Prince Zuko will not be able to immediately return to life of course. However, as per an old tradition dating back to the creation of the world itself, Lord Death may grant a person he deems worthy the opportunity to gamble their soul for the chance at a second life. Lord Death has deemed Fire Prince Zuko worthy of such an opportunity."

"A gamble?" questioned Zuko as he stood once more. "What kind of gamble?"

"It's a game of chance," replied the announcing spirit, "Soon to start in another world. There will be many others in attendance as well; however, they will still be living, fighting for the chance to remain that way. Lord Death wishes to observe your resolve. If you survive the game, you will be granted a second chance at life. If you die in the game, then your soul will be forfeit. Do you accept the terms?"

A written contract appeared out of nowhere on a small round table in front of Zuko. A small spirit fox quickly ran up to the fire prince, holding a quill in its mouth. Zuko looked down at the small spirit beast, who stared back at him with curious eyes. His hand slowly reached out to take the quill.

"Stop!" ordered Avatar Roku harshly. "If you lose your soul, then you will dissolve into nothingness! You will cease be; here in the spirit realm, the underworld, anywhere. This game…it's not worth the price. Do not sign the contact Zuko. I'm begging you! Think about those who care for you!" Before Roku could continue his protests; however, he was stunned to see his great grandson looking back at him over his shoulder with a soft smile on his face.

"I am," was the only reply that Zuko gave his great grandfather as the faces of his mother, his uncle, and a certain water bender flashed through his mind. He took the quill from the spirit fox with conviction as the little beast remained at his side. With a flick of wrist his name appeared on the contract, glowing in fire.

"I accept your challenge Death!" declared Zuko proudly as he stared the Eternal Reaper down. "I will survive and I will return! Life has always thrown everything it could at me. Why should Death be any different? At least now I know why." Lady Luck blew another kiss at him as Zuko turned his attention towards her. "I will forge my own luck. You will have no hold on me anymore."

Lady Luck merely laughed in return as Lord Death slammed his scythe down onto the sand one final time and Zuko disappeared.

The Painted Lady approached Roku as the assembly of spirits began to disperse. "He's strong. He has a good chance of making through this challenge."

Not turning around to face her, Avatar Roku remained staring at the spot where his great grandson last stood. "I know," he whispered quietly after a while. Withdrawing a picture of a once happy Fire Nation royal family from his robes, he added, "Still, I just let my great grandson gamble his very existence. Ursa is going to kill me when she finds out. And Iroh will be crushed when he finally makes the journey to the other side only to find that his favorite nephew no longer exists. I should have stopped him."

The Painted Lady shook her head. "You couldn't have stopped him Roku. In fact, there's probably only one person who might have stood a chance at that and she's not here. We can only pray for his success."

A faint smile swept across his face as Avatar Roku turned to face the Painted Lady. "You know, the Blue Spirit and Avatar Kyoshi were right about one thing. My great grandson really is a troublesome brat."


	2. The Official Launch

A/N: Please Enjoy and Review

**Chapter 2 – The Official Launch  
**

'_Damp_.' That was the first thought that ran through Zuko's head as he regained consciousness. Opening his eyes slowly, the morning light immediately invaded his vision and it took several blinks to clear his sight. The high shady branches of a single oak tree waved gently in the wind overhead as the grass he was laying in tickled his neck. Turning his head, Zuko noticed a small fox kit sitting about a foot away from him. The kit arced its head slightly to the right as it stared at the young firebender with eyes full of curiosity.

The dampness on his cheek suddenly made sense. Sighing, he sat up slowly and leaned against the tree. "What the heck is going on?" he mumbled to himself as his head kept spinning. Placing a hand on it to help stop the swaying, the fire prince looked around unsteadily. It appeared that he had woken up in the middle of a grassy meadow with a few sporadic trees lining the landscape here and there. A town loomed off in the distance though judging by the height of the multiple buildings even at this distance, the town had to be huge.

Looking at the kit again, his memories rushed back to impact him like a sack of bricks to the back of the head. Gripping his head with his other hand now, images of his final fight flashed before him. He heard the crackle of lightning, he could feel the searing heat of the flames, and he saw blood, his blood. The memories shifted and he recalled the beach; the assembly of spirits and his deal with Death, the tauntings of the Fortune Mistress. Breathing heavily, it took a minute for Zuko to calm himself.

He still felt weakened by whatever it was that Death did to send him to wherever this place was. "I should have asked more questions…" grumbled Zuko as he continued to look around. "That idiot of a mouthpiece spirit didn't exactly spell out what I needed to do to complete this challenge and get my life back." A familiar weight rested against his thigh. "Survive, huh?" He drew the simple copper sword resting against his leg from its sheath and examined it carefully. The blade was worn and chipped in several locations, but it was sturdy enough for maybe one last good fight. "That's all I've been doing for the last couple of years, shouldn't be too hard." The little kit brushed its head against firebender's side.

Setting his worn old blade on the grass next to him, Zuko picked up the kit to study it eye-to-eye. "You're the same fox that gave me the quill I used to sign the death contract, aren't you?" The kit yawned and licked the young firebender's nose. Zuko merely sighed in response. "Great, just great. Just what I needed. A little animal to get in my way." The kit seemed to frown as it pawed at the prince's nose this time. "Look, I didn't mean anything by it and I'm sorry about dragging you into my problems, but…" Zuko paused mid-sentence as he continued to stare at the little fox.

Sighing again, he placed the tiny creature back on the grass. "And now I'm talking to animals…" he mumbled to himself. "I went to the spirit world one time and I'm turning into Aang…" Standing up slowly, he sheathed his copper sword and stretched lightly in the morning sunlight. "Guess, I just head towards that town and try to figure out what's going on."

Taking only a few steps, Zuko turned to see the little fox trailing behind him. "Hey now. You don't have to follow me. Go run along and chase a rabbit or something. You could probably be pretty happy here in this meadow." The only response he got was a slight head tilt from the tiny kit.

Zuko took a couple more steps, paused, and then took a couple more before stopping again. He was mirrored the whole time by his small shadow. "Urgh!" he grunted in frustration. "Fine, do whatever you want. I don't care."

Turning completely around, Zuko started walking down the dirt trail leading towards the town in the distance. He could hear the footsteps of his small shadow tapping lightly on the earthen path behind him. Picking up his pace a bit, Zuko slowly started into a light trot until his pace shifted into that of a full blown sprint. About a hundred meters later, there was an impressive distance between the two. Slowing down, the fire prince turned to see the little fox just sitting in the middle of the trail staring at him. Easing back into a walk, he whispered, "It's for the best. If that fox hung around me, then my misfortunes would just rub off on it as well."

The tall grass off to his right shifted slightly. Zuko's eyes narrowed as he barely managed to evade a wolf's lunge with a quick back-step. Settling into a basic fire stance, Zuko smirked, "Bad choice. I'm in a pretty sour mood right now. Finding out my death was a joke, being unable to get revenge on the person who made my life a living hell, and to top it all off, losing again to my sister! I could use something to hit." The wolf merely snarled in return and launched itself at the young firebender a second time.

Zuko drew his arm back to build up momentum to launch a strong fire punch at his aggressor. "Take this!" Once again however, no flame heeded his call. "Oh man…still?" The wolf continued its flight towards the young firebender uncontested; its claws outstretched and ready to tear into flesh. Rolling backwards into the attack, Zuko caught the wolf as it landed on top of him and kicked it behind him as he rolled onto his back. Shifting onto his stomach, he looked up to see the wolf already recovering and spinning around once more to charge.

Suddenly a blur of red appeared on top of the grey wolf as the young kit bit into the neck of the older lupine and clawed at its face. Dazed, the wolf attempted to remove its new attacker by shaking its head back and forth. "Not good," cursed Zuko as he pulled himself to his feet, charging the beast while drawing his sword in one fluid motion.

Lowering its head and lashing out with its front leg, the grey wolf managed to get a lucky strike against the little fox and knocked it off. The tiny kit gave a yelp of pain as it rolled several times across the earthen trail, receiving several small cuts from the rocks on the path. "Enough already!" declared Zuko as he slashed clean through the wolf with a single charge.

The beast froze for a moment with a long, glowing red slash running horizontally across its body before erupting into a shower of multicolored pixels. "What?!" stuttered Zuko in amazement as he watched the pixels quickly disappear. "What was that?" A faint whimper broke him out of his shock.

Rushing to the little fox's side, Zuko noticed a strange bar hovering over the kit's head, one that was quickly racing to the left, changing colors from green to yellow and finally stopping at orange. "What is going on?" questioned Zuko as he examined the small creature.

The sound of applause immediately caused the fire prince to spin around, sword in hand, scanning for the next threat. "Easy there buddy," mused a young girl's voice as a petite figure dropped down from a nearby oak tree. "I ain't here to fight, but your tussle with that wolf caught my eye. Not many could defeat a level 3 wolf with a single attack this early into the game launch." She walked up closer to the point where she was just outside his sword's length. Tapping the edge of the blade, she pouted, "Could you please put that thing away? I already told ya, I'm not here to PK you."

"PK?" parroted Zuko in confusion, "What are you talking about? And who are you?" He lowered his sword slightly.

The olive haired girl seemed to take that as a friendly gesture as she leaned in close to examine him. With her face only inches away from his own as she stared at his scar, Zuko turned away will a faint blush. The girl seemed to raise an eyebrow. "Shy now are we? I know all the beta-testers from the one month closed beta, but I don't know you. That scar would be hard to forget."

"Beta-tester?" echoed Zuko again as his off-sword hand reactively reached up to touch his scar. "Start making sense already. And tell me who you are." He didn't make any effort to put his blade away as he stood protectively over the little fox lying behind him.

"Normally I'd charge for that little bit of information, but I'll make an exception this time because you showed me some good stuff," grinned the olive haired girl. "Name's Argo, and there's no piece of information that I can't find out. And now that I've given you my name, it's only fair for you to return the favor."

"Zuko," answered the fire prince simply.

"You're not much for words are ya?" joked Argo as she started thinking out loud. "Well you're obviously not a beta-tester and it doesn't look like you've got much money…So how did you make it out this far from the Town of Beginnings so fast? I've seen a few testers roaming the meadow so far, but most of the newbies are still in town trying to figure out how to tie their shoes."

Zuko debated to himself as to how much he should tell this girl. She came out of nowhere and started rambling on about weird things, not exactly the most trustworthy of first impressions. "Uh, I got lost," he finally got out.

Argo stared at him for a minute. "You got lost? In the middle of an open field? During a sunny day? With a giant freaking town to use as a landmark behind you? You realize you sound like an idiot right now." Looking at the upset frown starting to form on Zuko's face, she couldn't help but start laughing. "You really don't have a clue do you?"

Snarling, Zuko countered, "Maybe if someone would start explaining things, then I wouldn't be so clueless. Now are you going to help me? Because I'm about this close to walking away."

Argo waved off Zuko's complaints dismissively as she finished her laughing fit. "I'm sorry, but this is just too funny. This couldn't possibly be your first MMO, is it?" As tempted as Zuko was to ask what an MMO was, he held his tongue. However, his silence said everything that needed to be said and Argo started laughing even harder. Eventually she managed, "How did you make it all the way out here without dying? You must have been extremely lucky."

"Luck," spat out Zuko. "I may not know what's going on, but I know that luck has nothing to do with it."

"So touchy," replied Argo. "Lighten up, it's just a game. Still to pick Sword Art Online as your first MMO, you're not too bright are you?" She paused for a moment as if mentally debating something in her head. "300 Col." The fire prince simply stared at the olive haired girl in annoyance. "Right, right," she sighed. "Guess if I want to get paid, then I'll first need to explain to you how to do that. Here, raise your right hand like this and swipe it down to open the menu." She motioned with her hand, opening her game menu in the progress.

Zuko narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but after a moment, lowered his sword and copied the girl's motions. His eyes widened in surprise when a white colored menu appeared in front of him. "Good. Now use your finger to scroll down to the option that says 'Trade', select 'Col', then type '300' in the first row and 'A-R-G-O' in the second. Press 'Confirm' to finish."

Slow to follow Argo's instructions, the young fire prince took a few minutes to stumble through the menus. "There, I think. Now what did I just do?" he stated as his menu icon dissolved. He was answered by a frown from the olive haired girl standing across from him. "Hey, you listening? I said what did all that just do?"

Breaking out of her stupor, Argo quickly dissolved her menu as well. She pulled a small, round vial filled with a light red-colored liquid out from a pouch on her hip. "Here, you paid for this," answered Argo as she tossed him the vial. "Use it on your little friend there. I saw the whole fight. It didn't go well for that creature."

Catching the poultice, Zuko pulled out the cork and took a quick sniff of the contents. It smelled sweet. "What's this?" he asked suspiciously.

"It's a health potion," replied Argo innocently. "It'll help heal your pet."

Weighing his options, the young fire prince figured this girl had no real reason to harm him and knelt down next to the tiny kit. "Here you go, drink up." As he helped the liquid down the fox's throat, he saw the strange bar appear over the kit's head again; this time shifting back to the right and turning from orange to yellow and finally settling on green. Zuko failed to notice Argo backing up slowly to distance herself from him as she frowned at his actions. Mostly healed, the little fox jumped back to its feet before leaping up into Zuko's arms and licking his face once more.

"As happy as I am that that little guy is okay, it is very fascinating how you were able to tame that creature already," broke in Argo from behind as Zuko heard the sound of metal scraping against metal. "The quest to get the beast taming skill isn't until the third floor. So how exactly did you manage it?" Her voice lost all hint of amusement and got serious. "Those were some fine acting skills you had there, pretending not to know anything that's going on. But you slipped up Mr. Hacker. You fat fingered the amount of Col you sent me. There's no way anyone could have amassed 3,000 Col only half an hour into the launch time of this game."

Sighing, Zuko turned around slowly. Argo had crouched low in a ready position, an armlet of metal claws shining in the morning sun on her left hand and a pair of senbon needles clutched tightly in her right. She had the appearance of a cat ready to strike. "There you go again, not making any sense. For the millionth time, I have no idea what you're talking about." The tiny kit in his arms growled lowly at the new enemy in front of its master.

"During the beta, there was a hefty standing reward for all information relating to suspicious actions within the game. The developers were very interested in any exploits that players tried to take advantage of. Most were caught quickly and there weren't any major ones reported during the last week. However, it seems that they missed a few relating to beast taming and money generation," summarized Argo matter-of-factly. "My guess is that they will still honor the offer even now if I figure out how you managed it."

Roma struggled in his arms to hop back onto the ground, but Zuko held the fox tightly. "You get wound up fast don't you?"

"I told you before. There's no information that I can't get my hands on! And I'm confident enough in my skills to beat someone who has to rely on hacks to play a game!" A duel request message popped up in front of Zuko without warning. However not giving the scarred individual a chance to decline the fight, Argo threw a pair of senbon needles at the acceptance button. The words 'Duel Accepted!' hovered overhead, shortly followed by pictures of both Zuko's and Argo's faces with a solid green bar floating next to both images.

"What the heck is that?!" shouted Zuko with a startled tone as he stared upwards at the images. "How did you do that?"

"I already told you to drop the act," restated Argo. "You're not fooling anyone." The timer to the start of the duel had already reached forty five seconds. "If you really wanted to fake the newbie act, then you would have been smart to not walk around with a skill that can't be unlocked on this level."

Looking back towards the olive haired girl, a slight pitch of irritation entered his voice as Zuko yelled back, "It's not an act you bothersome hypocrite! I have no idea where I am and you're not exactly helping! You show up out of nowhere, start talking with all these weird words, and now you're posed to attack me for no reason. So excuse me for being confused!"

Taken back a bit, Argo hesitated for a moment. _'Maybe he is telling the truth._' She shook her head. '_No. It's still a ruse. Rule number one of lying, keep at it even if you're found out; it's your strongest weapon.'_ She gripped her claws tighter. The timer for the duel continued to tick down. Five, four, three, two, one…With that Argo used her crouched position to launch herself directly at Zuko like a catapult.

Waiting until the last possible second to evade, Zuko sidestepped the oncoming attack with a simple half-circle pivot before leaping over the low sweep that followed and twisting out of the way of a metal backhand. He held the fox tightly in his arms as it struggled to break free and join the fray. "Lucky dodge," critiqued Argo as she readied a second attack, though, she looked less sure of herself this time. "Try this!"

Two senbon needles flew rapidly through the air straight at the young fire prince's face. Raising an eyebrow at the speed of the needles, Zuko pulled up his sheathed sword and barely managed to block both projectiles as they dug deeply into the sheath. Turning his attention back to Argo, the olive headed girl was already charging him a second time, the metal claw on her left arm glowing brightly as she shouted, "Spiral Slash!" Zuko's eyes went wide in surprise as the olive haired girl's speed rapidly spiked and her left arm shot forward at his chest. Letting out a low curse, Zuko braced his sheath in front of him and attempted to use it to absorb the worst of the blow as the force of the attack threw him backwards off the dirt trail and into the waist-tall meadow grass.

"Ha!" exclaimed Argo with a cheeky smile. "You're not so tough. Ready to drop the act and tell me exactly how you managed to hack the code of a game developed by Kayaba Akihiko?" The grass to the right of her shifted and Argo prepared for a counterattack. "Looking to get knocked back again?" she taunted.

What she didn't expect, however, was for a small red fox to jump out from the grass. "Shoot," she cursed as she spun to her left just in time to get swept off her feet and pressed against the ground as Zuko sat on top of her, his sheathed blade resting on her exposed neck.

"Look, I don't have time to play around with you anymore. Beta-tester, PK, MMO, Col, Hacker? I have no idea what you're saying," said Zuko in an exasperated tone. "I just need to figure out where I am. Can you help me with that?"

Thrashing about, Argo continued to struggle in an attempt to dislodge the boy on top of her. Despite her best efforts, the young firebender held steadfast and refused to budge. To make matters worse, the little fox had appeared next to two and began nibbling on her ear. "Alright, alright, enough already! I give up. This one is my lost."

The word 'Winner!' appeared over Zuko's head as a victory tune played. Momentarily confused at what was happening, he loosened his hold enough for Argo to kick out with her legs and knock the young fire prince off of her.

"Geez," muttered Argo as she dusted herself off. "I can't believe the sexual harassment regulator didn't go off for that stunt he just pulled." She looked over at the boy who was waving his hand through the victor banner that was hanging over his head. _'I also can't believe I actually lost to this idiot. Maybe he's telling the truth after all. Either that or he's a genius at acting.'_ The boy was now waving his sword at the banner trying to bat the winner sign away. Argo sweat-dropped. _'Definitely not a genius…'_ The health bar over his head was barely hovering over the fifty percent mark. _'I was so close to winning. If he didn't get me into that submission hold, then I would have cleared the dueling condition of getting his health into the orange.'_ Clearing her voice to get Zuko's attention, Argo stated, "You won you know. So get on with it already. What victory reward did you want to claim? Money? Items? Equipment? As the winner of the duel, you get to pick something."

Zuko turned his attention away from the banner overhead. "I already told you what I want several times; to figure out where I am. I need information and for all your bolstering about being some kind of hot-shot information broker, you still haven't told me squat."

"Humph," snorted Argo as she crossed her arms indignantly across her chest. "Fine, if you're as clueless as you claim to be, then you really are an idiot. You're in Sword Art Online, a massively multiplayer online role playing game in which players are able to completely interact with the game world. We're currently on a gigantic floating castle named Aincrad. There are a total of one hundred floors in this castle. In order for the player base to advance to the next floor, we'll need to defeat the floor boss located somewhere on each level. When we reach the top floor and defeat the castle lord up there, we'll clear the game." She placed her hands on her hip as she huffed, "Is that what you wanted to know? Even that basic knowledge was written on the back of the box."

"Aincrad," parroted Zuko as he looked around at the grassy meadow once more. His eyes widened in realization. "Wait, one hundred floors you said? How long will that take?"

Shrugging, Argo answered, "Who knows? During the one month closed beta test, the furthest players ever got was the eighth floor, and those are the easy zones. The higher floors are bound to be even harder to complete. I can see it taking anywhere from two to three years before this game gets completed."

"Two to three years?! That damn mouthpiece… He left out that little detail," grumbled Zuko. With his father and sister detained, the war amongst the nations over, and the Avatar returned, things back in his world were going to be hectic for the next couple of years as people settled back into the notion of peace. Death's mouthpiece explained how Mai would be able to handle everything despite his absence, but Zuko couldn't help to feel as though he was letting all his newly found friends down by not being there to guide the Fire Nation through these times of reconstruction.

Bowing in gratitude, Zuko said, "Thank you for the information. I've got to get going."

"Hey! Not so fast!" protested Argo as she stomped her foot on the ground. Pointing her finger at the little fox standing next to Zuko's right leg, she added, "I'll let all the strange stuff about you go for now. There are lots of other things I need to worry about first. However, that fox is another story! How did you get that little guy to follow you so soon?" To herself, she thought, _'Even if the developers don't honor the reward offer anymore, players will still play good money to know how to start taming beasts on this floor instead of waiting until the third level. If I can get this guy to reveal that, then the profits should be excellent.'_

Looking down at the tiny kit at his feet, Zuko shrugged. "No idea." Argo face-faulted. "This little guy woke me up when I entered this world and has been following me ever since. I tried out-distancing him, but that didn't work out too well. Did you want to take him?"

Argo sweat-dropped as the little fox hid behind the young fire prince's legs and growled at her lowly. "I think I'm fine." Sighing, she added, "If you don't want to tell me, then so be it. If a newbie like you could figure it out, then I'm sure that an expert at information gathering like myself should be able to collect that little tidbit easily. Does he at least have a name?" At Zuko's sudden interest in the passing clouds in the overhead blue sky, Argo chided, "You're kidding me. You couldn't even be bothered to give your animal partner a name? What kind of beast tamer are you anyway?"

"Hey, wait a minute! I didn't ask for this little fox to follow me. He just started doing that on his own," countered Zuko. The tiny kit in question ran up Zuko's side and perched itself on his head. A sour expression settled onto the fire prince's face as Argo found herself holding back a laugh despite still being angry at her lost.

"Well whatever you did, it looks like you're stuck with him now. So you best figure out a good name," lectured Argo as she sat down on a nearby wooden fence post.

"I don't have time for this…" grumbled Zuko as he turned to walk away. The tiny kit let out a small yip and pawed the fire prince's forehead. "Hey! Knock that off!" He was rewarded with another paw to the forehead. "Why you little!" Trying to grab the tiny kit off his head, Zuko failed to notice a protruding rock in his forward path of travel. A second later, the fire prince found himself face first in the dirt with the individual responsible for his trip standing on top of his back victoriously. Argo could be heard laughing again in the background.

"Argh!" shouted the troubled firebender as he jumped back to his feet. Towering over the tiny kit, the poor creature had the dignity to look guilty for its actions as Zuko attempted to calm his rage. "Fine, how's Jair?" he said after a few moments. The little fox shook its head. "No good? Okay, what about Cael?" Another disapproving head shake came in response from the fox. "Picky, picky… Okay, then. Keon, take it or leave it." Zuko threw up his hands at the third rejection he got from the tiny kit. "This is a waste of time."

"I think I see your problem," called out Argo from her wooden fence post with a large grin on her face. "Try a girl's name."

"Oh you have got to be kidding me…" mumbled Zuko as he pitched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "How does Roma sound?" The tiny kit's ears perked up at that suggestion before it nodded happily. Zuko looked back at the olive haired girl on the fence post. "There, you happy now?"

"Roma, huh?" mused Argo. "Not bad, I guess."

Roma leapt up into Zuko arms before hopping onto his right shoulder. "Looks like I'm stuck with you aren't I? I'll tell you this once; trouble always seems to follow me. So if you're really going to tag along, then be prepared for a rough journey." Roma simply smiled back at him. Turning back towards the Town of Beginnings as Argo had called it earlier, Zuko started walking. "Next time, don't call out the name of your attack until after it hits!" he called out over his shoulder.

"Troublesome idiot," grumbled Argo under her breath. She continued to watch the scarred boy walk down the dirt trail_. 'Zuko was it? I'll be keeping an eye on you for sure. Way too many things don't seem to add up and I really hate not knowing things.'_ Hopping off the fence post she had been resting on, she opened up the field map in her menu. "Well now that that's over, it's time to get back to finishing the field map first so I can sell the data on the trading post." Suddenly a constant chiming of church bells rang out across the grassy plains and a glowing summoning circle appeared directly underneath her. "What's the?!" she started. Throwing a quick glance at the fox boy walking down the trail, she saw that a similar circle had appeared underneath him as well. Before she could call out or do anything a flash of light erupted around her and the field emptied of both players.

* * *

Zuko appeared abruptly in a wide open town square sword drawn and scanning the immediate area for the closest threat. Roma was hunched down tensely at his side, fur on end and growling lowly. Countless other summoning circles continued to appear all around him as more and more confused looking people appeared in the town square. The olive haired girl that had been bugging him only moments ago was nowhere to be seen amongst the perplexed masses.

Soon the tolling of the clock bell in the center of the square stopped as the silence of the final chime rang out. Someone to his left started pointing to the sky and Zuko looked up to see a glowing red hexagon flashing in the sky. The icon read 'Warning!' Rapidly multiple other hexagons began to spread out to encompass the sky. Some of these read 'System announcement' as well.

A strange blood-red looking liquid started to ooze out of the sky and quickly joined together into a condensed form as lightning crackled around it. "What's that?" questioned another individual to Zuko's right. The fire prince only gripped his sword tighter, waiting for an attack to come. As the liquid finished coming together, it began to take the shape of a large crimson robed man that hovered in intimidating form over the gathered assembly of people in the square. Zuko could hear people all around him whisper amongst themselves, "A game master? Why doesn't he have a face? Is this an event? I'm scared…" It seemed like everyone in this world talked nothing but nonsense.

Raising both its arms in a welcoming greeting, the crimson robed game master hailed the crowd. "Attention, players! Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. And as of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

More murmurs erupted from people around Zuko as he kept his focus on the gigantic figure before him. "Is that really him? He must've spent a lot of time on this." Ignoring those around him, Zuko leaned down to pick up Roma and placed her on his shoulder.

The crimson robed game master continued his speech, "I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But I assure you, this is not a defect in the game! I repeat…This is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log out of SAO by yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave destroying your brain and thus ending your life."

_'Logout button? NerveGear? When will anyone around here talk normally?'_ thought Zuko with irritation. The mood of those around him was starting to turn negative though. Lots of people's faces were beginning to get scared and panicked. "This isn't going to end well," Zuko muttered under his breath. "Come on Roma." The young fire prince slowly began making his way to the edge of the crowd as he heard people around him whispering amongst themselves, "What? Come on, enough already. Let's go, this isn't funny."

Undaunted, the crimson robed game master continued, "Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world."

_'Real world?!'_ froze Zuko as he heard the game master's speech. _'Wait, is he talking about my world? No, it must be another world that Death failed to mention.'_ Looking around at the rest of the people gathered in the square, it hit him. _'So these must be the others that the idiotic mouthpiece was talking about. All these people, they're still alive and trapped in here just like I am. No wonder everyone looks so scared.'_ The second half of what the game master said then sunk in. _'But wait, two hundred and thirteen people are dead already? I've only been here for a little bit. How could so many be gone so quickly?_'

Feeling as though he had been quiet long enough to let his speech sink in, the crimson robed game master resumed his dialogue, "As you can see, news organizations around the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game." Multiple screens depicting newscasters announcing the truth of the game master's words floated all over the sky in the town square. "But I want you all to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within this game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

Everyone had become deathly silent in the town square as Zuko finally reached the edge of the gathering. An invisible wall blocked him from leaving the area though. He struck it with his fist a couple of times, but the invisible wall held fast. The young fire prince turned to listen to the rest of the speech. "There is only one means of escape. To complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the Final Boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

As he began to wrap up his speech, the game master finished with, "Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves." Zuko noticed the other people in the square opening up a plain white menu in front of them, just like the olive haired girl from earlier showed him how to do. Repeating the motion, he read down the options and saw that one of them read 'Items.' Clicking on it, only two articles appeared to be inside.

"SAO Vol. 1 and Mirror," read Zuko as he clicked on the latter. Instantly a small rectangular mirror appeared in his hands. Staring at his reflection, a cry of surprise went out to his right. Quickly shooting a look in that direction, he saw several people enveloped in a glow of light just as the same light encircled him. A flash of brightness exploded throughout the town square and as it finished, everyone around the fire prince had a different appearance and some even had different genders all together. Looking back at himself in his mirror, Zuko was relieved to see his own appearance hadn't changed at all.

The crimson robed game master decided to start up his monologue again. "Right now, you're all probably wondering, 'Why?' Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this? My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason…To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch." His gigantic floating body began to dissolve and the red hexagons covering the sky vanished. As the last of the dissolving lights faded away, the game master's voice could be heard one final time, "Good luck, players."


	3. Starting Out

A/N: Please Enjoy and Review

**Chapter 3 – Starting Out**

The light barrier holding all the players in the town square dissolved as the crimson robed game master fell apart completely. Zuko's eyes narrowed as he noticed the obstruction's absence. "Time to get out of here." Before he could manage to take two steps, a high pitched scream of "NNNOOOO!" rang out from somewhere in the courtyard. The majority of players broke out from their stupor as a result and started shouting in anger at the space once occupied by the game master's avatar.

Ducking his head, Zuko continued to run; away from the screaming masses, away from the confusion and the panic. He tore across a small water bridge leading into the market district, ducked between several stalls of vendors trying to hawk their wares, and wandered through a maze of back alleys. Collapsing next to a petite fountain of a modest looking angel pouring water from a jug in the middle of an opening of four alleyways, the young fire prince paused to catch his breath. "What is going on?" he pondered out loud. "Robed demons floating in the sky, strange pictures popping up all over the place, and everyone talking in weird sentences…what kind of place is this?"

Looking down at Roma, the little kit looked back up at him in similar bewilderment. "And why is everyone going crazy over the thought of dying? When you get killed that's it. People only have one life to live." He thought about his own predicament for a moment. "Usually."

Standing up, Zuko spun around and kicked the stone alley wall hard. "Argh! This is all Death's fault! Letting me get killed because that stupid spirit of Luck has been using me for her own twisted sense of amusement and then not explaining what exactly it is I'm supposed to do to win my life back in this ridiculous challenge of his." Picking up a decrepit, crumbling clay pot sitting in the alley, Zuko tossed it into the air and attempted to shoot a fire blast at it. Nothing happened. "And to top it all off, that jerk took away my bending!" As the pot fell back downwards, Zuko smashed it apart with a well delivered punch, shattering pieces of clay all throughout the alleyway. Centering his breath, he ran through a couple of basic firebending forms; however, no flame answered his call. In a rage of frustration, he kicked the wall a second time.

"What am I supposed to do?! I have absolutely no clue what's going on around here!" He smashed a set of half broken wooden baskets. "So much for thinking I was becoming a better fighter! I was so determined to beat Death at his own game that I didn't even bother figuring out how exactly I was supposed to do that!"

Another thought crossed his mind in that instance, stemming his anger slightly as Zuko let a small chuckle escape. "I bet uncle would be scolding me right about now if he knew what I did. It's just like back up at the North Pole. I was so determined at the start, but small details like an exit plan eluded me." Roma finished taking a drink from the water fountain and climbed up on top of the marble angel's head. The small fox's nose started to sniff the air in interest and her ears perked up.

The delicious smell of freshly baked bread began to fill the streets as Zuko took notice of the aroma as well. His stomach rumbled. "Come on Roma, let's go. Katara would probably hit me in the back of the head with another water whip if she caught me feeling sorry for myself again." A phantom pain itched on the back of his skull and his hand reflexively rose to rub it. "I'll never forget the last time. It was the night before the last battle. I had been questioning my ability to truly fight with all I had against my sister. Katara walked right up next to me, face-to-face, and stared at me directly in the eyes. I can still see those deep, piercing azure eyes. At least right up until she raised her arm and struck me with that damn water whip, hurt like crazy too. But then she leaned closer and whispered directly into my ear, '_Just believe in yourself._'" A smile crossed the fire bender's face. "I remember the shock apparent on Sokka's face, the stunned expression on Aang's, and the smirking grin on Toph's as well."

Roma started tugging on Zuko's pant leg in the direction of the delicious smelling bread. "Alright, alright, guess you don't really care about my past. Food first, plan second." The two of them took off down the alleyway towards the small street harboring the enticing scent.

Breaking out of the dark alley into the light of the street, Zuko looked up at a humble looking sign that simply read, '_Piri's Bakery_.' "Hello?" he called out as the two entered the tiny shop. "We smelled the bread out in the street, are you open yet?" Roma hopped up onto the wooden counter, staring at the simple selection of baked treats on display. "Get down from there," scolded Zuko. "The shop owner probably doesn't want animals running all over the place."

Gentle looking woman emerged from the back covered in flour. "Customers? Welcome to Piri's Bakery! How can I help you?" Her light pink tinted hair was tied back in a long, flowing ponytail that stretched down her back.

"Piri, I presume?" asked Zuko as he walked up to the counter. "This is a nice store you have here." Roma made her presence know with a light yip. "I thought I told you to get down from there." Turning back to the shopkeeper, he started, "I'm sorry about my friend here…"

"So cute!" exclaimed Piri as she wrapped up the auburn colored fox in a tight embrace.

As the fox struggled to escape the shopkeeper's grasp, it shot a look at its master, who simply sighed in return. "I told you to get down from there. Still, didn't think that was going to happen." Roma's struggles were getting weaker and weaker. "Umm… Piri, I think you're suffocating her…"

"Oh!" came the shocked reply as the baker released her hold on the poor creature. Roma fell back onto the counter before she retreated onto Zuko's shoulder. "Sorry about that, I just have a weakness for cute little monsters. They always seem so huggable." She straightened out her apron. "Anyways, what can I get for you?"

Zuko quickly scanned the bread on display. There really only appeared to be the same type of bread style out on the shelves. "Got anything spicy?"

Thinking for a moment, the baker frowned. "To be honest, my baking skill still isn't that high. All I can really offer at the moment are some loaves of country bread and basic blueberry muffins." The baker bowed. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, we'll just take two loaves then." Piri disappeared into the back of the store and returned with two still steaming hot pieces of bread. Another screen popped up in front of Zuko's face that read 'Country Bread x2 100 Col.' Slightly less startled at the strange occurrence this time, he pressed the 'Accept' button and another screen popped up for a moment that stated his current funds as being 400 Col.

Having a bite of his snack, he was taken back by how delicious it was and had to restrain himself from wolfing the rest down. Instead he decided to try and get some information. "Did you hear the announcement outside? You don't seem to be as shocked as everyone else was out there."

"Announcement? Oh, you mean the speech from the game master," replied the baker. "I'm an NPC." Zuko simply stared at her blankly. "A non-playable character." The blank stare continued. "I'm a program." Still nothing. "I'm part of the game."

A slight recognition crossed his eyes. "You mean this game that Death created as a challenge for me to return to the world of the living?"

Now it was time for Piri to look confused. "No, this game was created by Kayaba Akihiko. I have no references in my memory banks that he has ever had the nickname Death."

Zuko sighed. '_Where did that jerk send me…?_' Looking at Roma, the little fox obviously didn't have the same qualms about devouring its meal and was looking hungrily at Zuko's still unfinished piece. Tearing off a small bit, he handed a little more to his pet. "Can you tell me anything about this place? According to someone else I met earlier, I'm new to MMOs, whatever those are."

"Did you lose your instruction guide?" probed Piri questioningly. "It should be in your inventory and explains everything in detail about how to start out in Sword Art Online."

Faintly remembering about the strange white screen, Zuko somehow managed to bring back up his menu. As he was about to click on the option for '_Items_," he noticed that another that read '_Mail'_ was blinking. Hesitantly he clicked that option instead and a wide screen appeared full of text.

'_Great grandson, I hope this letter finds you well. You caused quite the stir over in the Spirit World; most spirits were too young to remember the last time that Lord Death presented this challenge to anyone, a challenge which you accepted far too rashly by the way. I had a nagging feeling that you were in over your head; especially when Lady Luck started taking bets on how long you would survive. It took some negotiating on my part, but Lord Death finally granted me the privilege of sending this one letter. Listen carefully; you are in an artificial world. There are both people who real, flesh and blood, and illusions that are non-real, imitations inhabiting it. You will need to learn as much as you can if you hope to survive. Also your ability to bend has been repressed. This is not from you losing your connection to your inner fire again, but a decision from Lord Death to limit you to the means of fighting available to the people of the game world. To help you get started on your quest, several friendly spirits and I pooled our resources together to send you some currency used in that world. I believe the total amassed should come out to be about three thousand or so. Additionally, I was informed that the creator of that world will have already informed you of the end goal by the time you receive this letter; heed his words grandson. Should you die in that world, there is nothing I or anyone else can do for you. I have faith in you. You will succeed._

_ -Avatar Roku_

_P.S. Wan Shi Tong was infuriated when he discovered that one of his foxes took the journey with you. Several kind spirits and I only barely managed to calm him down by getting him focus on all the information he would receive from the world you are in when you return. So please keep the creature safe. And finally, the Painted Lady said she was able to leave a gift for you in a place called Nadia's Garden. She would not tell me what it was, only that you would need it_.'

Stunned, Zuko quickly reread the letter a second time, then a third. Then the speech from earlier played in his head as well. "One hundred floors…" he muttered to himself. "This is going to take forever…"

"Did you find what you were looking for in the guide book?" asked Piri with a smile on her face.

"I'll look at that later. Do you know where a place called Nadia's Garden is?" All of the open screens in front of the young firebender closed as Zuko walked through them. "I need to get there as fast as I can."

Shaking her head, the baker frowned for a second time. "I've never heard of such a place. It sounds lovely though, like it was named after someone special. Maybe the information brokers in town might know more."

Wolfing down the last of his bread, Zuko thanked the shop owner again and turned to head out the door. He signaled for Roma to follow. "Come on, it seems that I need to keep you safe unless I want another spirit angry at me when I get back to my world." The little fox yipped as it raced after its master. Piri waved at the duo as they left the shop.

The side street was still empty as Zuko walked towards the center of town. "I guess the best place to ask questions would be in the marketplace." However, once he reached an intersection to a main road, the fire prince was greeted with a scene of hysteria. People were screaming and rioting all down the street. Small fires had broken out in the windows of some shops as frantic people looted them. The city guard was all over the place, trying to restore order to the town as more and more guards flowed into the street. They would simply touch a person's arms and handcuffs would bind their wrists. Looters were stripped of their stolen goods. Still, people seemed to be in a panic.

Zuko ducked into a nearby alleyway. "Let's try another route," he whispered to Roma. "This way's no good and I've never exactly been on good terms with the local police anywhere I go; best not to give them a reason to try and detain me here as well."

Doubling back and circling around, the fire prince walked along the edge of the city. Looking over the fence placed along the cliffside, Zuko did a double-take as he took in the view. "We're floating…" he managed, dumbfounded. "Aang would love to see this." Roma yipped at his side. "What is it?" The little fox was looking in the direction of a fairly large crowd of people standing near the fence on the far side of the cliff. "What are they up to?" He saw a single person step up onto the fence. "He's not going to…" Zuko gritted his teeth as he watched the person walk off the edge of the fence.

Two more stepped up onto the fence and Zuko ran. "What are you doing? Stop!" They jumped. "Stop!" Roma raced alongside him. More stepped up. "I said stop damn it!" It was as if a floodgate had opened as people were freely climbing up onto the fence and throwing themselves into the abyss. "Knock it off!" Zuko dove to grab the arm of a kid as he stepped off the fence.

"Let me go!" demanded the kid as he dangled over the cliffside, Zuko struggling to keep his weakening hold on the boy's arm as the kid flailed wildly. The lad didn't look to be any older than eleven. "Let me go!"

"What are you doing kid?!" shouted back Zuko. "Quit struggling! I can't pull you up if you keep kicking like that!" More people were still walking off the fence all around him as the young firebender attempted to pull the kid back to safety. "Are you crazy?! You'll die if you fall from here!"

"No I won't!" argued back the kid as he continued to thrash. "The man who went first, he was telling us about how this was the only way to return to our world. When we get a game over, we'll wake back up in real life. Then he went first to prove it."

"What?!" yelled Zuko. "That's a lie. Dying is dying, and I won't let you kill yourself. Now give me your other hand!"

"Let me go! My brother already went over and he's waiting for me!" shouted the flailing kid.

Zuko paused at this information as the image of Lee flashed over the kid's angry face and his grip weakened. It was all the kid needed to pull his arm free and begin his plunge in the cloudy abyss. "NO!" screamed Zuko as he watched the kid fall further and further, the firebender's arm gasping uselessly at empty space. At some point before the he was out of sight, the boy seemed to comprehend his mistake and his wide panicked eyes struck Zuko to the core. "No…"

Quickly looking around, Zuko realized he was the last one remaining on the cliffside. It couldn't have been more than a minute and the entire crowd of people was gone; men, women, children, just gone. There had to of been at least sixty or seventy in total and all of them had followed the word of a disbeliever to jump to their deaths. And Zuko couldn't even manage to save one. He had the kid in his hand, and he just let him go.

Leaning back against the fence post, Zuko just stared at his hands. "I had him. I had him. And I just…I just… I never even knew his name. Only that he was scared and wanted to go home." He looked back over the side of the cliff into the never-ending sea of clouds. "I was wrong. Aang would hate this view." After a while Zuko slowly managed to get up and start walking, his destination forgotten. Roma followed looking up at the firebender in concern.

Ten minutes later, the firebender somehow found himself at the front gates of the city, a vast green field stretched out before him in every direction. The peaceful looking countryside held a stark contrast to the madness of the city. Breathing in deeply, Zuko let it all out with a long sigh as he boxed up his emotions within himself. "This I can understand. The hysteria and paranoia in the city? It's too much." The fire prince and his fox started walking down the main road. "It will just be you and me, Roma. I won't risk anyone else." He stared at his open palm. "I've let too many people down already. This is my burden and my burden alone from here."

Continuing on aimlessly, the young firebender noticed people traveling in groups and loners like him here and there fighting boars and giant bugs on the open plains. The groups tended to fare better than the loners did as Zuko watched a few of them shatter into fragments of light every now and then. He gave both types a wide berth. The one thing he had learned in his short time being in this world was that people didn't make any sense. Not how they talked, what they feared, or how they acted. Most of them didn't seem to have the slightest clue of how to fight with a weapon either.

Still, Zuko didn't see the need to talk to any of them. Not even when a tiny group of them tried to wave him over as he reached the edge of a grouping of trees next to a small hill. If he didn't interact with anyone, then he wouldn't feel responsible for anyone. However, it seemed that this group didn't share his intentions.

"Hey! I was trying to get your attention," snapped a gruff looking teenager as he stepped in front of the firebender's path. "It's polite to answer people, you know."

"Get out of my way," ordered Zuko as he eyed the stranger down.

A second rough looking teen gave a low whistle as he leaned against his pole-axe. "This one has a bit of an attitude; might have to teach him some manners. Hey brat, you should listen when your betters are speaking."

"Maybe we should just let this one past," stated a snide looking female with a bored expression. "He doesn't look like he's got much on him. Besides, it appears another small group is on their way. Let's just hit them."

"Nah, this one's pissed me off now with that tough guy act of his. He thinks he looks all cool with that scar of his," replied the first teenager. "Now hand over all your Col before things get ugly."

"I don't have time for this." As Zuko attempted to sidestep the interloper, he was shoved back with a strong push.

The sound of metal being drawn echoed. "Fun way it is," smirked the brigand. "I've already got the orange marker from some other punk who thought he was tough too. Guess you were too stupid to notice."

"Not even going to pretend I know what you're talking about," grumbled Zuko as he attempted to pass again. As the brigand swung his sword straight at Zuko's exposed side, his attack was quickly blocked.

"What?" sagely noted the pole-axe user as he stopped leaning against his weapon. Looking closer he saw the firebender's blade only half drawn at the fire prince's side to intercept his friend's strike. With a spin, a well placed back kick knocked the wind out of the brigand and dropped the older teen to the ground in pain. Zuko just kept walking.

"Hold it right there!" demanded the snide female as she blocked the path this time with a long wooden spear. "That was a cheap shot!" Before Zuko could even retort, he was hit hard from behind with a pole-axe. "Better," grinned the female as she watched her prey's hit points drop down by a third. Off balance, the young firebender was barely able to twist out of the way enough to avoid a follow-up spike to the gut. Instead, the female brigand just laughed as she grazed his shoulder. "You're not so tough."

The first brigand was getting back up. "You little brat. You'll pay for that." Before the brigand could take step a red blur flew onto his face. "WH—umghp!" Roma began raking his face wildly with her claws. The axe user rushed to assist his leader. As he reached him, Roma leapt off the brigand's face and landed at Zuko's side. The little fox looked very smug as it taunted the bandits.

Not willing to stick around and let them recover, Zuko scooped up Roma in one arm and charged the female spear wielder. Catching her off-guard and before she could lift her weapon to block, he cut through her side with a quick slash and bolted into the small grouping of trees. He could hear the brigands give chase behind him as he tore through the underbrush and wove amongst the tree trunks. In his haste, the young firebender failed to notice an exposed root and was thrown against the small hill. As he flew into the bushes, Zuko braced for the impact with the ground; however, the earth decided to work against him as well as he fell through the bushes and into the hill.

Tumbling down a slanted slope, the fire prince came to a stop in darkness. Only a faint hinting of light outlined the cavern from the breaks in the bushes' leaves at the top of the slope. The shadows of the three brigands chasing him rushed past the entrance. Disregarding them, Zuko looked around. Except for a smaller opening off in the distance, his eyes couldn't make out anything in the darkness.

Sheathing his weapon and setting Roma back on the ground, Zuko stretched out his hand and opened his palm. Staring intensely at his open hand, he willed the spark to light as he breathed life into the essence of fire within his soul. Nothing happened. No flame erupted in his hand and the cavern remained dark. "Worth a shot," he sighed. Placing a hand on the wall, he checked the other side. "It's a tunnel. About as wide as maybe three people side by side." Pulling back out his sword, he used it to check the ground in front of him as he walked to avoid any holes in the cavern floor that may have been there.

Breaking into the light, Zuko was greeted by the sight of a garden of faint blue flowers. Looking up, he noticed the roof of the cavern was covered with several small glowing rocks that gave off a warm light. He saw his name up in the top left corner of his vision as well next to a bar three fourths full colored in green. He had seen it before out in the field, but looked different now. For some reason, it was outlined in orange.

Shrugging, the young firebender looked over at his pet as Roma ran into the flower garden happily and rolled around in the field of the blue-hued petals. More reserved, the fire prince walked in slowly as he continued to examine the cavern. He approached a broken flat stone that appeared to be very old. There was some writing on it as well; however, most of the words had degraded to the point of being indecipherable. "Na…nd…rono…1...02 …D... tri..ute to… fou..ht and…ay th..ir sa..rif..ce…" he sighed. "The rest is completely unreadable." Looking at Roma as she continued to roll around, he added, "This place feels a memorial."

Something shifted behind a large rock in the back of the cavern and Zuko's eyes narrowed. "We're not alone." He slowly drew his weapon. "Show yourself!" Roma had stopped her frolicking and leapt onto the stone the firebender had been attempting to read moments before. Little by little the fire prince circled the cavern as he moved to get a better view without drawing closer to whatever was moving behind the large rock. The shadows continued to shift as they followed Zuko's movements, preventing the fire prince from getting any further information. Roma seemed to quickly tire of this test of patience though as the little fox rushed towards the large rock. "Wait! Get back here!"

As the kit landed on top of the rock, she growled menacingly at the shadows. Before Zuko could move, two large figures leapt out from behind the rock directly at the little fox. With a startled yip, Roma rolled off the rock as two bear cubs smashed down where she had just been standing. The rock shattered under the impact of their combined weight. As the fire prince took a step forward a deafening roar shook the cavern from the entrance, forcing him to raise his hands to cover his ears from the noise. Shooting a look back at the opening, an enormous brown bear lumbered in to completely block off the only passageway into and out of the cavern. "This is bad," stressed Zuko as he turned to face the new threat.

The brown bear scanned her den for the intruders that had disturbed her cubs. As she locked eyes with Zuko, the mama bear bellowed in challenge and reared up onto her hind legs to tower to a height double that of the fire prince. A two green bars materialized next to the bear's head. Their individual length appeared to be longer than the other single bars the fire prince had seen on the creatures out in the field, almost three times the length and at least double the ones that had appeared on the cubs. "And it just got a lot worse." The brown bear fell back on all fours and charged.

Diving to his right, Zuko somehow managed to avoid the rush of muscle and fur; however, he didn't expect the speed of the bear's pivot to be so quick as the mama bear dug her front paws into the soft ground and spun half-circle to head butt him in the back. Feeling the sting from the impact, the fire prince grunted in pain as he recovered in time to backpedal from a series of claw swipes directed at his rib cage. Soon his back struck the wall of the cavern.

Triumphantly, the mama bear stood once more on her hind legs to tower over the fire prince. A brutal swing of razor sharp claws followed. Raising his worn copper sword, Zuko parried the swipe and caught the claws amongst his blade. Struggling against the weight of his opponent, the young firebender locked his glare with the bear's face, which in return opened its maw to reveal a ravenousness set of teeth. He could feel his blade cracking under the stress of the block and was quickly reminded of the state of his equipment. Kicking out with his right leg, he struck closest hind leg to him. Off balance, the bear's weight shifted enough for Zuko to slip out of his cornered position, slashing with his weapon as he passed. Several red streaks appeared on the bear's body as the creature bellowed out in pain and rage. Only a slight fraction of its life bar had depleted from the attack.

"What?!" cried out Zuko as he observed his enemy's life bar. "Those were solid hits!" Without giving the fire prince time to recover, the brown bear was already charging a second time. Determined not to give any more ground, the firebender answered with a charge of his own. Ducking under a lunging claw strike, Zuko stabbed the bear deep in the side and drew his blade horizontally through the creature as the two crossed in their jousting pass. Only another slight fraction of the bear's hit point gauge decreased in response. "That should have been good enough to fall any creature with that strike," panted the fire prince as he squared up against the gigantic brown bear again. "I completely ran the beast through."

A yip to Zuko's far left torn him from his wonderings as the young firebender shifted his attention from his opponent in alarm. Roma rolled through the dirt several times before coming to a stop at the base of one of the cavern's walls. Apparently fighting both bear cubs at once was proving to be too much for the small fox as she continued to get double teamed; facing off against one of the powerhouses left her vulnerable to a blindsiding strike from the other. Distracted, Zuko was barely able to bring his weapon up in time to block another swift claw strike. His weapon wasn't so lucky. With one final protest, his worn copper sword cracked and shattered into several pieces under the weight of its opponent. Stunned, the fire prince failed to notice the follow up strike as it barreled solidly into his chest and threw him back against the far wall. The shock of his impact shook the entire cavern, dislodging multiple glowing light stones from the ceiling.

His life bar plummeted deep into the red zone with barely any color remaining. Struggling to his knees, Zuko clutched the broken hilt of his sword tightly. "Damn, I thought that it would last longer than that. Is this really the best I can do? How am I supposed to be able to return if I can't even handle a simple beast?" He stared at one of the glowing rocks that had fallen near him. Picking up the foot-length stone in his off-sword hand, it felt heavier than even his sword had been when it had been whole. Before he could formulate a plan, the bear was upon him, once more on its hind legs. Rolling to the side, he evaded the stomp that followed and stole another glance at his little fox.

In desperation, Roma pounced on top of the larger of the two bear cubs, biting into its neck. As the smaller cub went to assist its brother, Roma released her hold and leapt onto the second neck to bite down on. The second cub cried out in pain as it quickly found itself at the little fox's mercy as well. However, Roma's small victory was short lived as the larger cub quickly recovered and swiped her off his brother with a well delivered claw strike.

This fight wasn't going well. All too quickly it dawned on Zuko. If he stayed here in this cavern for a minute more, then both Roma and him would be dead. Sliding the rock he found into a pouch at his side, the fire prince sprinted to his collapsed pet's side. Scooping up the fox mid-stride in one fluid motion, he made a beeline for the entrance.

The brown bear moved to block his path; however, Zuko wasn't done yet. With a final cry of exertion, he slid under the expected claw swipe before vaulting himself over the bear's body to stab the hilt of his broken blade into the creature's backside. Leaving it there, the firebender continued his flight. As the brown bear howled in pain, the fire prince landed behind the beast and sprinted as fast as he could into the tunnel entrance and back out into the light of the green meadow plains.


	4. Not Alone

A/N: Please Enjoy and Review

**Lawliness**: Thanks for the reviews. From Sword Art Online's storyline, there are 100 floors in Aincrad to climb in order to reach the top. And just like the series didn't cover each and every single floor, I probably won't either. But I did want to go over the first couple of them. There will be a time skip eventually, but it will most likely be several chapters down the line.

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Not Alone**

It was several hours later that the torches of the front gate of the Town of Beginnings finally came into view. Without a weapon to defend himself and his life already hanging on by a thread, it had taken forever for Zuko to slowly make his way back. Several times he had to double back to avoid detection from a group of wild boars or bees that were roaming the fields. There were a couple of instances when he saw teams of people fighting against the wildlife as well. However, not wanting a repeat of his last incident with the brigands that had tried to mug him, the young firebender decided not to risk the chance of asking them for help.

The light of the evening sun was starting to set in the distance as dusk covered the grassy meadow. His charge shifted weakly in his grip. "Hang on Roma, we're almost there. I'll get you some help as soon as I can," reassured the fire prince as he drew closer to the front gate. In addition to the host of city guards manning their stations, there were several people milling about.

"Look at his face. What could have scarred him that badly out there?"

"His clothes are completely shredded."

"Oh man, it seems like his entire party got wiped out."

"He probably just ran to save himself, coward."

"Can you really blame him?"

"What happened out there?"

"This is only the first floor. If players are coming back looking like that, then how are we supposed to win?"

"It's hopeless."

Zuko disregarded the onlookers as he continued to limp forward. No one was making the effort to approach him. So instead he walked up to one of the guards on duty. "A healer, where can I find a healer?" he pleaded.

The city guard glanced down at the injured player. Lifting the visor on his helm, a nondescript face stared at the wounded fox in the boy's arms. Without warning, Zuko found a lance tip staring him directly in the face. "You're under arrest bandit. Disarm and come along quietly."

Taken by surprise at this unexpected turn of events, the young firebender jumped back a few feet to create some space between him and the unanticipated threat. Two more guards stepped up next to the first and out of the corner of his eye, Zuko spied two more approaching from the left and one from the right. "You can't be serious?! I haven't done anything wrong! Quit messing around and get a healer here now!"

"Player ID #28334052," stated the lead guard matter-of-factly, "committed an act of aggression against green status Player ID #73290481 on 6 November, 2022, at fourteen thirty two server time. There is a total of eighteen hours and forty two minutes remaining before player's status returns to green. This is your second warning, disarm and stand down for immediate detainment until the end of your sentence."

Zuko's mind raced. '_Six against one_.' He felt the empty weight of the sheath wrapped around his waist. '_I could really use some fire right about now_.' The lead guard took another step forward as the young firebender matched him with a step backwards. He could hear the onlookers gawking behind him.

"What's going on now?"

"The NPC guards are about to arrest that kid."

"Maybe he's the reason why he returned alone without a party. Probably pk'ed them and was stupid enough to try and walk back into town."

"Looking closer, he seems pretty dangerous actually; almost feral even with that scar."

"Stay back everyone. Let the guards handle it."

Glancing up at the bar in the top left corner of his vision, Zuko stared at the small amount of red color that remained. He turned back to the guards and dropped slowly into a ready stance. All six city guards tensed at the action as lances were raised into position. Then without a word, the young firebender ran. He tore past the crowd of onlookers who jumped to the side in panic. Lances struck the cobblestone road around him as he sprinted. Gripping Roma tighter, Zuko didn't stop until he was clear of the town's gate and out of sight of any pursuit.

Breathing heavily, the young firebender collapsed next to an undersized boulder with two large bushes on either side of it. Looking at the life bar on Roma, the percentage remaining was just as low as his own. The weariness of all this running around was catching up to him as his legs sluggishly refused to move as he tried to stand again.

"No weapon, no food, no medicine, you're doing really great surviving out here Zuko," he taunted himself as he took measure of his predicament. "Wild animals want to kill you, random people want to hurt you, and guards want to arrest you, quite the champion aren't you?" He petted Roma softly trying to make her feel comfortable. "I'm just glad that Azula can't see me right now. I can hear her belittling, snarky comments already about how I can barely keep myself alive, much less a pet. I'll figure something out Roma."

Several heavy footsteps sounded from behind the rock, approaching his hiding place casually. Tensing for another sprint, the young firebender's legs screamed in protest as he gritted his teeth and willed them to listen to him. The footsteps were getting closer; it was time to move.

Pushing up with all his remaining strength, Zuko stumbled only once as he started, but it was enough. A hand reached out and grasped his shoulder as the fire prince was pulled back and wrapped up in a fierce hold. Stomping down with his heel, Zuko aimed for the closest foot he could see, but his pursuer was smart enough to keep a distance with his lower body.

"Easy there buddy, can't have you running off on us now," came a stalwart sounding voice from the man holding the fire prince. "That would be counterproductive to my master plan."

Finally finding purchase with his heel, Zuko dug down hard as he shifted his weight to jab his elbow into the stranger's squishy midsection. Breaking free, the fire prince shuffled to the side to create some space. Unfortunately, he was too focused on escaping that he failed to notice the brown haired girl in his way. A quick collision later, both found themselves sprawled out on the ground.

Momentarily dazed, Zuko's eyes came back into focus to the sight of a kind old man extending his hand out to help the fire prince up. "Calm down young'un, I'm afraid I can't take a hit like my grandson here can and you seem pretty excitable right now." Glancing back at his captor, Zuko noticed an elderly woman helping a brown haired girl up before assisting a confident looking young man back to his feet while fretting over his side.

Hesitantly, the firebender took the offered hand. Having the decency to feel a little ashamed of his rash actions, he apologized, "I'm sorry about my outburst. I met some individuals earlier who weren't exactly looking out for other people's well-being."

Shaking the firebender's hand with a surprising strong grip for his age, the elderly man replied, "Can't say I really blame you lad. The world's going to hell in a hand-basket and everyone's scared out of their minds. My name's Hannes and this is my wife, Anka, and my grandchildren, Mark and Lisbeth."

Anka approached them. "That kit in your arms; it doesn't seem to be doing too well." She dug into a pouch at her side and produced a health potion. "Here, please use this."

Zuko stared at the red health potion being offered to him for a minute before he recalled the same medicine from his first encounter with an olive haired girl named Argo. "Thank you," he said gratefully as he accepted the potion and administered it to Roma. The fox's health rose back up to a little over half way and she stirred in his arms.

"We only played this game to spend some time with our grandchildren," started Anka as she looked at the fox with a sad smile. "I had gotten the foolish idea for us to join them for the launch. And now we're stuck here in this death game." Fighting back the tears, she handed another potion to Zuko. "One for you too deary, drink up."

Hannes put an arm around his wife. "At least we're here with them honey. If you hadn't talked me into playing with them, then we would be stuck outside while our grandchildren were trapped in this game by themselves."

Roma jumped out of Zuko's arms as he drank from the health potion. He could feel his strength returning to him as the sweet liquid touched his throat. It tasted like strawberries. Lisbeth and Mark walked up to join the group as the latter clutched his right side with his opposite hand. Walking right up to Zuko, the brown haired man reared back and clocked the unsuspecting firebender with a sucker punch.

Reacting instantly, Roma launched herself at the man only to fly though empty space as Mark ducked underneath the leaping animal. Reaching down to help the fire prince up, he said with a cocky smile, "There, now we're even."

World still spinning and ears still ringing, Zuko had enough bearings left to grip the offered hand and sweep out with his legs to knock Mark over onto the ground with him. "No, now we're even."

Glaring at each other, both the young fire prince and Mark, who looked to be a little over twenty, dared the other to try another move. Stepping in between the two, Hannes protested, "Enough, both of you. You're both tough, now stand up, start over, and shake hands."

Begrudgingly, Zuko stood up first as Roma returned to his side looking questioningly at the developing situation. Still sitting on his backside, Mark offered out his hand with a smug grin wide across his face; which the fire prince just stared at. "If you think I'm foolish enough to fall for a trick that I just pulled myself, then you're dumber than I first gave you credit for."

"Excuse my brother," broke in Lisbeth, making herself known. "He's usually just a pain. However, you owe me an apology. So out with it."

Turning to truly look at the brown haired girl for the first time, Zuko saw an impatient, annoyed face staring back at him. Her arms were crossed and her left leg was tapping the ground in irritation. "Well?"

"For bumping into you?" replied the fire prince. "You're joking right? I thought that you all were pursuing me. I was trying to get away."

"We were pursuing you," shot back Lisbeth. "You came limping back into town nearly dead and got chased out by NPCs. Call us curious."

"Curious enough to wander out at night into a field of monsters after someone who was running away from city guards? And my uncle calls me foolish."

Patting the copper mace on her hip, Lisbeth assertively countered, "Don't worry about us. I can take care of myself and my older brother has been known to get a hit in every now and then while he acts as cannon fodder."

"Hey!" cried out Mark in mock grief as he stood up. "You know I'm better than that."

Ignoring him, Lisbeth continued, "Now what's up with that orange marker? Spill it."

Confused again, Zuko just remained silent. Breathing out in a huff of exasperation, Lisbeth pointed up above his head where a faint orange icon was hovering. Then she pointed again at the faint green icons floating over the heads of her party. "Those markers. Now what did you do to make yours orange?"

"I didn't do anything," protested Zuko defensively. "I haven't been able to figure this place out from the moment I got here."

"Green players are normal players that have been playing the game as it was meant to be played, fighting monsters and engaging others in friendly duels. Orange players have committed a crime of some sort like stealing, property damage, or hurting a green player. Red players are the worst kind of player. They get that status for killing another player," summarized Mark as he crossed his arms sagely. "Usually, in these kinds of games, it's not uncommon for people to role play as heroes and villains. However, assuming what Kayaba Akihiko said to be true, then being an orange player in this game is the same thing as being a thief or a thug and a red player, well that's no different than a murder."

"Which is why I want to know why your marker is orange," pressured Lisbeth a third time. "We helped you out, now start talking."

"You all followed me out this far knowing that the orange marker meant that I did something wrong?" pieced together Zuko is slight disbelief. "I don't know whether I should thank you for being more curious than frightened or impressed by the recklessness of fools."

Drawing her mace, Lisbeth casually tapped the blunt head against her off-weapon hand. "You want to rephrase that? I don't think I heard you quite right."

Remembering his own lack of any instrument that could be considered sharp or menacing, Zuko quickly steered the conversion back on track. "Look, all I know is that I left the town after all the madness started to go down. I traveled through the field for a while trying to avoid pretty much everyone, but this group of three got in my way and tried to rob me. The first guy was bragging about having an orange marker too, but Roma dealt with him easily enough." The little fox beamed at his side after hearing the praise. "The second got a cheap shot in on me, but I managed to cut through the third and escape."

"The one you fought to escape," interrupted Mark. "Was it a green or an orange player?"

"I don't know. Only the first guy said something about being orange. And I didn't exactly stick around long enough to check out the other two. But I think I remember seeing something green floating over their heads like you all have." Zuko stopped there, debating to himself whether or not he should talk about the cavern he found as well. He decided to leave it out. "After that I wandered around again until I stumbled back into town."

"Well that explains the marker," accepted Mark easily.

"But not the lack of weapon and the scar on your face," pressed Lisbeth. "You left something out."

Shaking his head, Zuko denied it. "I've had this scar for awhile. As for my sword, I dropped it; somewhere out on the field in my haste."

"Some swordsman you are," taunted the brown haired girl. "You're going to have to tell me about that scar though. Sounds like there's a good story behind it." Glancing at her brother she missed the pained expression on the firebender's face in regards to his scar. "And you're sure that you still want to invite this guy to tag along with us?"

"Wait, what?" replied Zuko abruptly. Without warning, he was wrapped up in a friendly headlock by Mark who was grinning like an idiot.

"Of course I do!" he laughed. "Fighting to protect an innocent creature! Standing up to bullies! Able to run like the dickens when he's outmatched! He's got all the makings of a hero, just like me!" Waving his free arm around with enthusiasm, Mark continued to move about dragging Zuko with him, the latter of who was flailing with both arms trying to break free. "He seems like he's new to MMOs, but that just means he can learn how to play the right way. I've always wanted a protégé."

Finally releasing the fire prince, Mark slapped him roughly on the back with a heartily chuckle. "How about it? Wanna team up with us and learn from the best?"

Recovering, Zuko leveled a glare at the confident looking man standing next to him. "No, I don't want to team up. I'm thankful for the help, but I'll be fine on my own."

"Ah, don't be that way," rebuttaled Mark with a mock frown.

Clearing his voice, Hannes spoke up again. "You really should take my grandson up on his offer. My wife and I are going to return to the Town of Beginnings, and I would appreciate knowing that I wasn't sending my grandkids out into this dangerous world alone."

Dismayed, Lisbeth turned to her grandfather, "But I thought that we were all going to go together!"

With a sad smile, Hannes shook his head. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but I couldn't ask that of Anka. It took a lot of convincing just to get her to follow us out this far to chase after this boy."

Zuko noticed that the elderly matriarch was trembling slightly at her husband's side. '_He's right. She barely has the courage to be out here right now as it is_.'

Continuing, Hannes looked at Mark, "I expect you to watch over Lisbeth. Keep her safe. This game, it's meant for the young in body and spirit, not for those of us just young at heart." Stretching his back, he sighed. "My aches and pains would only slow you all down. And as much as it kills me to admit this, I'm not as young as I once was."

"But how can we split up from you and grandma?" protested Lisbeth as she hugged both of them.

Looking down at his granddaughter with a light smile, Hannes placed his hand on her head. "Ever since Kayaba Akihiko made his announcement, your grandmother and I knew it would come to this. As much as I don't want to let you kids go out there and fight, I know I can't hold you back."

Looking at her grandmother, Lisbeth asked, "Is that true?"

Tearing up, Anka hugged her granddaughter tighter. "I want you to stay with us in the Town of Beginnings where no one can harm you. Let someone else save the day. I just want my grandchildren safe at my side." Hannes put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Hannes…I can't…I just can't give them my blessing to head out on their own." The tears were flowing freely now.

Standing next to Zuko's side as both of them watched the heartfelt scene before them; Mark whispered lightly, "In all seriousness, I realize we don't know you at all. And to be honest, that story you just told us could be complete bull. But the fact that you have the orange marker tells me that you know what it's going to take to survive in this harsh world we all find ourselves in. That's why I want you to team up with us. Because this game isn't going to be easy."

Taken back a bit, Zuko narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "You're more calculating than you act. But what makes you think I won't just rob you all blind and leave you for dead so that I can survive. As you pointed out yourself, I've got the stomach to fight."

With a smirk, Mark replied, "Call it a gut feeling. You did save that kit after all. Gotta be some good in ya somewhere. Now let's go help out granddad, shall we?" His serious demeanor had faded away completely and his happy-go-lucky attitude had returned.

"Wait, I haven't given you my answer yet," objected Zuko as he was caught in another headlock and dragged towards the embracing family members, Roma following closely behind.

"Don't cry grandma! I promise that I'll keep Lisbeth safe," boasted Mark as they approached. "Nothing can beat a leading man after all!"

Wiping away her tears, Lisbeth forced a smile, "Leading man? You've always been more of a supporting role in these kinds of games."

Deflating slightly as he continued to tow the fire prince forward, Mark countered, "Lisbeth, please."

Releasing her granddaughter from their embrace, Anka looked at Zuko expectantly. '_Why is she looking at me so intensely? It's not like whatever I say is going to affect her decision anyway. I've only known these people for about five minutes_,' he thought inwardly.

Unclipping her sword from her belt, Anka handed it to the young firebender, who took the weapon somewhat awkwardly from his headlocked position. "I won't be needing this. Put it to good use please."

Realizing that she was giving her permission for her grandchildren to journey forth, Zuko looked at the weapon he had accepted. "I don't really have much choice in the matter, do I?" he sighed in defeat.

"Nope!" beamed Mark as he nodded to his grandfather who in return shook his grandson's hand fiercely before handing him a picture.

"Here, it's the picture we all took when we first entered this game world. I want you two to have it. Be safe out there." Taking his wife by the hand, Hannes turned back in the direction the Town of Beginnings. "Have faith in them dear. Our grandchildren are strong."

Looking over from his headlocked position, Zuko took a look at the picture. It was an image of the four family members standing together in a bazaar back in the Town of Beginnings. Hannes and Anka were smiling in the background while Lisbeth was beaming with happiness and giving a victory sign with her right hand. Mark had his hands on his hips as he was smirking at his sister's antics. '_Must have been before that big announcement._'

* * *

"Dynamic Slice!" shouted Mark as he slashed through two giant insects at once with a sword skill. "Oh yeah! I'm awesome!" he cheered as a level up screen appeared in front of him, announcing his promotion to level three.

"Do you have to shout out stupid names for your sword skills every time?" sighed Lisbeth from behind her brother. "Aren't you an adult now? How can you still be acting so childish?"

"Ah, don't be like that sis. Shouting out 'Slash!' or 'Thrust!' sounds so lame. Kayaba Akihiko really could have put better effort into naming the starting sword skills. I hope the more advanced ones have cooler sounding names." He started to allocate his newly acquired attribute points.

She smacked him on the back of the head with an open palm. "I meant don't shout out anything! You don't see me doing something so childish, do you?"

Rubbing his head gently, Mark looked back at his screen, "Ah! I accidently put all my points into vitality. I was hoping to get some agility and dexterity in that level up."

Zuko just continued down the path as the siblings carried on with their antics. It had been three days since they had teamed up. His player status had returned to green on the second day. The first night they had just camped out on the hill where they initially met. Only Mark and Roma had really slept soundly. Lisbeth wasn't completely trusting of the fire prince to keep watch during his shift, and Zuko was too preoccupied trying to get his head wrapped around the world he now found himself in to sleep. At the start, Mark had taken the first watch, but since Zuko was up anyway, he took the time to explain the game basics and answer the firebender's questions.

It took some doing, but Zuko finally got used to the menus that continuously popped up in the world. Also he learned how unprepared he was for traveling by himself. His inventory was completely devoid of any healing potions, food, water, or other supplies. All stuff that Mark and Lisbeth had stocked up on back in the Town of Beginnings.

Glancing back at the two again, he saw Lisbeth giving another lecture to her older brother about how he needed to grow up and start acting his age. As much as he initially resisted being in a group again, the familiarity of his teammates was starting to grow on him. Roma, on the other hand, had opened up immediately. The little fox had taken a liking to Lisbeth right from the start, though she still shied away from Mark whenever he got close. Probably had something to do with the eccentric man trying to put a cape on the little fox during the team's first night together. That did not end well for Mark.

Still, once they reached the next town, Zuko was thinking about going his own way. He had learned much from Mark about how this world worked. It seemed that by slaying wild creatures out in the field, one would acquire something called experience points which in turn would increase one's level once enough were amassed. The first time that Zuko leveled up yesterday, it was a shock to see the attribute screen pop up and he could feel himself actually getting stronger as he placed some points into strength and agility. A small amount of Col would drop as well; sometimes even an item of sorts too. Mark had explained that quest givers in towns would provide a better source of Col for helping them with their problems than slaying a bunch of monsters. '_After one of these quests, I'll thank them for their help and part ways_,' decided Zuko to himself.

"Whatcha thinking about buddy?" questioned Mark as he slung his arm around Zuko's shoulders to walk alongside the firebender. "Still not brooding about me knocking you off that hill yesterday into that big lake, right? I told you that you had a bug on your back the size of my fist!"

"I landed on top of a large boar that was taking a drink at the water's edge. He tried to gore me with his tusks after he managed to buck me off. I was lucky that the water's surface slowed the beast down," grumbled Zuko as his train of thought was disrupted. He shrugged off Mark's arm. "And I told you several times already. I'm not your buddy, so quit trying to act like we're best friends."

"Ah, don't be like that," replied Mark. "After you defeated that large boar, you leveled up. So I'd chalk that incident up to a win."

Before Zuko could get anymore irritated, Lisbeth interrupted, "So we're almost at the next town right. What was it called again?"

"Horunka Village," answered Mark, checking his map. "It's a small farming village on the edge of a forest. Nowhere near as big as the Town of Beginnings, but it should have a good couple of quests for us to take and shops to replenish our supplies."

"It sounds peaceful," replied Lisbeth as she picked up Roma. "I just hope that the inn has hot water baths."

"We're in a virtual world, there's no need to worry about baths," laughed Mark. "I'm hoping for some good food instead. I could use a hot meal."

"Humph, you may enjoy walking around like a smelly mess, but some of us here prefer to not have people flee at the first whiff of our body odor. Isn't that right, cutie?" she petted the little fox in her hands as she walked ahead.

The interruption over, Mark turned back to Zuko, who had resumed his brooding as the group traveled. "So you still haven't answered my last seven questions about your scar. How'd ya get it? Playing with matches? Grease fire in the kitchen? Running into a burning building?"

Fuming silently, Zuko pushed ahead as well to distance himself from Mark. "Just one quest, if I can last that long..." he mumbled as he tried to block out further inquiries from the vocal man calling out from behind.

* * *

Arriving in Horunka Village later that afternoon, the group broke up to explore the place. Lisbeth said she was going to make sure the inn had rooms available while Mark wanted to go check in with the local blacksmith. That left Zuko free to wander around on his own.

A giant windmill graced the center of the village as the huge propellers turned gently in the breeze. The slowly setting sun bathed the skyline in an auburn hue. "That sunset reminds me of the small island villages back in the Fire Nation," said the fire prince to himself as he took in the sight. "None of them had a giant windmill such as this, but the casual feeling is still the same." Roma's attention wavered as something caught the little fox's eye. She suddenly dashed away to the left of the windmill. "Hey, where are you…?" Zuko's gaze tracked forward to see a small chicken coop fenced off from the main road next to the central windmill. "Oh-no."

Racing after his pet, the firebender wasn't able to catch up to the little speed demon as Roma used a nearby wooden cart and stack of barrels to clear the fence and land inside the chicken coop. Immediately, the chickens inside began to flutter around as their feathers ruffled and dirt flew every which way in their haste to evade the unwelcomed predator. Roma was having a field day pouncing at anything that moved.

"Hey! Knock it off, would you?!" shouted Zuko as he reached the fence wire. Spotting a gate nearby, he rushed inside after the excited kit. At once he was lost in a sea of feathers as the frantic poultry flew around his face. Villagers and players alike had begun to crowd around the fencing as they pointed and laughed at the annoyed fire prince inside attempting to calm his pet. This was starting to become quite the spectacle.

Ten minutes later, a disgruntled firebender was covered in white feathers standing outside of the chicken coop holding an innocent looking fox by the furry cuff of its neck. "You do that again, and I'll tie you to a post outside town until we leave. You got that?" To his annoyance, Roma was still paying more attention to the chickens roaming around in the coop than to her scolding master.

As the fire prince turned to leave, he was stopped by an angry looking farmhand. "Hey there pal. Thanks to you, the chickens will probably be too spooked to lay eggs by the morning. We're going to lose out on sales." The farmhand held out his hand expectantly. "We usually make about fifty Col in egg sales every morning. You're going to pay that now."

Zuko looked at the farmhand then back at Roma. Placing the unabashed kit into the extended hand, the fire prince turned to walk away. "She's all yours."

"What?!" protested the farmhand as he shouted at the young firebender's back. No longer being secured at the cuff of the neck by her master, Roma dashed back into at the chicken coop. "Hey stop!" lamented the farmhand as the wild fox disrupted the upset fouls a second time.

Half an hour later, Zuko walked into the inn to find Lisbeth and Mark sitting at a table having dinner. A pot of beef stew had been placed in the center of the table and Lisbeth was in the middle of serving herself while Mark had already begun eating. "There you are, and right on time too! I wanted to wait a little longer, but my brother said that it would be a shame to let a hot meal cool." The brown haired girl took a second look at the few white feathers still stuck to the firebender's tunic and the ragged appearance of his hair. "What happened to you?"

"Chickens," replied Zuko as he sat down. Roma hopped up onto the table and the fire prince shot her a sour look as the little fox stared at the still steaming beef stew. Lisbeth poured the kit a bowl, but before she could place it down in front of the little fox, Zuko intercepted the bowl. "Nope, no supper for her. She's being punished." Pleading eyes immediately appeared on the fox's face, but the fire prince remained resolute. "You know what you did."

"Such a stern father," commented Mark in between spoonfuls of his stew. Breaking off a piece of his bread roll, he offered it to Roma. However, the little kit continued to stare at Zuko. "And such a disciplined daughter."

"Disciplined? You wouldn't be saying that if you saw her earlier," grumbled the young firebender.

Taking a bite of her own meal, Lisbeth petted Roma kindly. "Whatever happened, it couldn't have been that bad. She was probably just being playful. There's no way this cutie-pie could do anything wrong."

Looking at the judgmental stares from his party and the innocent expression on Roma's face, Zuko sighed in defeat. Placing the bowl of beef stew in front of the fox, he grumbled, "Pesky little chicken chaser…"

"So get this," started Mark in-between bites. "I think I found us a quest to take. There was this kind old woman at the blacksmith's place. She was looking for adventurers to go into the woods and find some medical ingredient for her sick husband. Apparently there was another player earlier who…Humpf!" Choking on a piece of bread, Mark desperately made a grab for his water, but only managed to knock the cup over, spilling the refreshing liquid all over the table. Roma jumped off instantly to avoid getting wet as the water quickly approached her.

Sighing, Lisbeth offered her brother her own glass. "That's what you get for talking with your mouth full like a little kid. Here, drink, finishing chewing, and start over."

Taking a long gulp, Mark set the empty cup back down on the table. "Ah, that was good. Glad I have such a caring sister to keep me out of trouble." Shaking her head at her brother, Lisbeth started to soak up the water with a towel she took from a nearby waiter. Reaching for his spoon a second time, Mark's hand was stopped.

"Didn't you just learn better?" griped Lisbeth with an angry tick mark on her brow.

Laughing nervously, Mark pulled his hand back and continued, "Anyways, there was this other player who already gathered the necessary medical ingredient two days ago, but it seems that the sick woodsman needs a second dose to fully recover. That's where we come in. There's a quest monster called a Flowering Little Nepent in the woods somewhere that will drop a Little Nepent Ovule. That's the ingredient we need to collect. Sounds simple enough, what do you all say?"

"I'm in," answered Lisbeth. "We can't just let a family with a sick member keep suffering."

"Do we know where exactly we're going in the woods?" questioned Zuko as he started in on his own meal. "Or are we just going to wander around aimlessly and hope to get lucky? Not to mention, how many of these Nepents are going to be gathered together? How tough are these creatures? Do they have a weakness? And as for the medical ingredient we're gathering, what does it look like? How many do we need to gather? Is it going to spoil quickly? There's a lot of unanswered questions here. Information is key."

Crossing his arms sagely, Mark nodded in agreement. Then he actually spoke. "No idea." He laughed heartily as Zuko nearly dropped his spoon as he lifted the eating utensil full of beef stew. "But no worries, everything will work out."

"It's that kind of flippant attitude that gets people in trouble," argued the fire prince as he recovered. "It's unfortunate, but I say we either find out more information or find a different one of these quests. If the sick woodsman got some of this medicine earlier, then he's probably out of the worst of it. He'll probably recover eventually on his own."

"But you don't know that for sure," countered Lisbeth. "And whatever is out there in those woods, we can handle it." She patted her copper mace resolutely. "You're not scared are you?"

"Tsk, fine," grumbled Zuko. "Don't blame me if we get in over our heads."

"Great! It's settled then," cheered Mark as he reached for his beef stew again. "We'll head out in the morning!"


	5. Fools Rush In

A/N: Please Enjoy and Review

**Chapter 5 – Fools Rush In**

Smoke was the first thing he smelt. It was suffocating and repulsive; a heavy, dark black mist that covered everything in the rustic Earth Kingdom village in a repugnant layer of soot. Then the scent of roasted flesh invaded his senses as Zuko barely managed to suppress the instinctive urge to vomit. Stumbling through the horrific scene before him, the young firebender tripped over a shadow. Recovering, he looked back to witness the charred remains of what used to be an Earth Kingdom villager. This time he was not able to hold back the upheavals.

Wiping the bile away from his mouth, he heard them, the screams; bloodcurdling screams of people burning alive. Within the shroud of smoke, the voices seemed to be shrieking from every direction as Zuko's hands shot up to cover his ears while his eyes scanned all over, futilely attempting to locate the sources of terror. Finding the strength in his legs once more, the fire prince rose as he ran through the black misty veil. He crashed into wooden carts, shopping stalls, and other obstacles, but he just kept running.

Bursting through the door frame of a house, Zuko scanned the interior wildly looking for any signs of life. His gaze only met with burning furniture and smoldering debris. Another scream pierced his ears to the right as his eyes instantly followed. Only more smoke. A shuffle of feet stomped overhead and the ceiling collapsed in the distance corner of the dwelling. Coughing through the dust, Zuko saw the outline of a small girl sitting on the wooden stairs hugging a stuffed rhino-bear doll tightly and crying. Before he could call out, the entire household shook violently and another rumbling rushed down the stairway as more debris and fire raced through sweeping up the little girl like she was never there. The fire prince took a step forward, but a third thundering shake of the building promised its final moments as Zuko jumped back through the doorway he had just entered as the home broke apart completely moments later.

Climbing back to his feet, the young firebender stared in disbelief at the rumble. Then the shrieks of terror resumed throughout the black smoky mist. Shadows of darkened figures danced just outside his limited vision as flames continued to engulf the Earth Kingdom village. Barrels and shopping stands exploded as molten fiery catapult shot tore through them from far away. And still the smell of burning flesh remained. The running resumed.

Finally, the fire prince emerged from the engulfing black smoke as he tumbled over a broken fence line. Falling head first into the unforgiving ground, Zuko came to rest on his back staring up into a crimson red sky. As he sat back up, an imposing structure stood several feet in front of him. "A gallows?" he pieced together slowly as his mind calmed down. Then the fire prince took notice of the three figures standing on the platform awaiting the executioner's noose. "Lee! Gansu! Sela!" he shouted as their faces came into focus. A noose was being placed around each of their necks as all three turned to slowly stare at Zuko with an icy glare.

"What's going on here?! This can't be happening! The war's over!" Zuko tried to stand but was roughly shoved back down in the dirt by two faceless Fire Nation guards dressed in full armor. "Release me! I am the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation!" he demanded as he struggled against their hold.

"We know," came the haunting voice of Sela from up on the gallows. Her voice sounded far off and detached from caring about what had happened to her village.

"You deceived us all," added Gansu as his disembodied voice pierced Zuko's ears with a stoic judgment.

"I looked up to you, and you lied to me," spat out Lee in disgust. "You can't save me, you can't save my family, you can't save anybody."

Zuko's struggles ceased as he listened to the accusations of the Earth Kingdom family he had befriended during his travels alone. He couldn't find the strength to protest, to deny their claims. Even as the executioner lumbered unhurriedly towards the lever that would trigger the trapdoors under the prisoners' feet, Zuko remained silent. All the while Lee and his family continued to glare with a barely contained hatred.

Just as the executioner reached his position, Zuko found his voice. "No! Stop! Release them!" As the hooded executioner paused, the man seemed to look for approval from a figure behind the restrained fire prince. Arching his neck to follow the executioner's gaze, Zuko could barely make out the outline of an approaching shadow.

His face was shoved back forward by one of the guards holding him down, but he could still hear the footsteps drawing closer in a rhythmic pattern. A darkened profile looked over his face as the moon came out from behind the shadow of a cloud and the fire prince managed to identify the figure as his breath caught sharply in his throat.

"Hello brother," smirked Azula.

* * *

Zuko shot up in his bed in a cold sweat as he breathed in and out heavily. Wildly, his eyes scanned around the simple room at the country inn he was currently resting in. No destruction, no fire, no death; everything was peaceful as the sun calmly swept into his room from the wooden blinds of the nearby window. Gripping his head with one hand, he attempted to reassure himself, "A nightmare. That's all that was. Just a nightmare." A furry red figure jumped onto his bed. Ignoring Roma as the little fox looked at her master with concern; Zuko got out of bed and made his way over to the quaint looking wooden window frame.

Throwing open the shutters, the young firebender took in the tranquil sunrise and the sounds of farmers and shop-owners starting their day in Horunka Village; nothing was burning and the air was clean and crisp with a gentle morning breeze. Watching the going-ons of the village for a couple of minutes, Zuko sighed and returned to his room.

About an hour later, both Lisbeth and Mark walked downstairs to find Zuko sitting at the same table the group had occupied the night before quietly sipping a simple cup of tea. "Good morning!" greeted Mark as he took the seat next to the fire prince.

"Hn," replied Zuko as he barely noticed the two joining him for breakfast.

"Well aren't you chipper this morning?" commented Lisbeth as she signaled to the nearby waitress for two coffees. She petted Roma as the little fox continued to sip her saucer of milk.

"Rough night?" probed Mark as he nudged the shoulder of the firebender in jest. "One time I had this dream where I got eaten by a giant tuna. Couldn't sleep for weeks. All those slimy, smelly scales rubbing against me…" He shook in mock terror. "Evil…"

Pausing to level a glare at the joking brown haired man sitting near him, Zuko resumed his quiet tea drinking.

Undiscouraged, Mark continued, "Then there was this other dream where I fell out of an airplane without a parachute. Just kept falling and falling; birds and clouds rushing by one after the other as the ground loomed below me. Woke up by falling out of the top bunk." Thinking about it for a moment, he added, "That was kinda fun actually, least till I landed on a bunch of legos scattered all over my bedroom floor; that part hurt a lot."

The waitress arrived with the ordered coffees. "When are we setting out?" muttered Zuko as he stared at his still steaming ginseng tea.

"Oh?" noted Mark with curiosity. "I thought you weren't interested in helping people. We nearly had to twist your arm just to get you to help us out."

Taking another sip, the fire prince replied, "What I'm interested in is not getting myself killed. But this time I could use a distraction."

"Well aren't you all high and mighty this morning?" joked Mark as he reached for his hot coffee. Unfortunately, he misjudged the distance to his mug and managed to knock the cup over on the table. "Hot! Hot! Hot!" he shouted as some of the liquid managed to spill onto his lap. Mark started to dance around the inn's dining area in a weak effort to shake off the burning liquid from his clothes.

"That's twice now in as many days," sighed Zuko as he looked over at Lisbeth. "Why do we let him have his own drinks again?"

Leaving her brother to his own devices, the brown haired girl stopped petting Roma and turned to the fire prince. "He's got a point though you know. Why are you so eager this morning to charge into the forest? Last night you were complaining that we were rushing into this quest without enough information."

"I said that I was going to help too didn't I?" countered Zuko as he calmly took another sip of his tea. "I never go back on my word."

Lisbeth blew on her own drink as she picked it up by the ceramic handle. Her brother's demonstration proved that the coffee was still exceedingly hot. "Still, you seem different this morning; more gruff than usual."

Placing his empty cup back onto the table, Zuko stood up as he dug into his pocket and tossed a tip onto the wooden table for the waitress. "I'll be waiting at the edge of the forest."

The brown haired girl watched as the fire prince left the establishment without another word. Roma looked torn between finishing her saucer of milk or following after the young firebender. Quickly, the little fox took one final long sip before jumping off the table and running through the main entrance. A minute later, Mark sat back down at the table, his pants drenched with water that he had poured on them from a jug sitting on the bar. "What'd I miss?"

* * *

Walking past several small vineyards and rows of various crops, Zuko reached the edge of the forest. In comparison to the village, the forest was dark and uninviting. The trees along the front edge were seemingly normal enough, but as the fire prince peered deeper in, the trees seemed to twist and shape themselves into warped versions of wood while the dense foliage from their branches blocked out most of the light from overhead. Taking a few steps back from the forest, Zuko went through some of his basic firebending exercises.

As he expected, the young firebender was still unable to produce any flames as he performed his movements; however, the familiar motions still felt calming in a way. They were a comfort from home, a solace granted to him from a caring mentor. Spinning full circle, Zuko kicked high with an arcing back kick just before he dropped low to sweep out with his opposite leg and shot forward with a series of punches. Another spin caused the fire prince to pause as he noticed Roma watching his movements carefully from on top of a freshly cut tree stump. The crunch of a twig caused both of their heads to snap towards the tree line as a grizzled woodsman emerged carrying a bundle of newly cut firewood on his back.

"Morning traveler!" greeted the woodsman as he approached. Zuko eyed the sharp hatchet buckled on the man's belt. "You're not thinking of entering these woods by yourself, are you?"

Cautiously, the fire prince replied, "I'm waiting for my team to arrive. They should be here shortly."

"That's good to hear. These woods are dangerous to most. Lots of nasty creatures in there, you know." Adjusting the bundle on his back, the woodsman continued, "I don't travel far in myself; always remain within sight of the village. Even so, someone's got to cut the firewood and, well hey, it's a living."

Deciding to see what else he could get out of this wood chopper, Zuko asked, "Have you ever heard of an item called a Little Nepent Ovule? My friends and I are looking for it to help a sick villager."

"An ovule huh?" commented the woodsman. "Yeah, you can get one in these woods, extremely rare find though. Look for a Little Nepent that has bloomed a flower on its head. Only that type of creature will drop the item you're looking for." The woodsman thought back for a second. "Come to think of it, there were two other fellas that passed through here a couple of days ago as well. They were looking for the same item."

"Did they find it?" pressed the fire prince.

"One of them did," replied the woodsman. "The other one never passed back on through this way. The returning adventurer did not tell me what happened, but from the look on his face, I don't think his companion survived. I told you these woods are dangerous." Adjusting the bundle on his back once more, the woodsman turned to the nearby cottage. "It's none of my business if you silly adventurers want to keep risking your lives in these dark woods. But be safe all the same." With that the woodman entered his cottage and shut the door behind him.

Roma hopped onto her normal spot atop the fire prince's shoulder. Casually Zuko scratched her head as he stared into the forest once more; a faint foggy mist seemed to weave throughout the bases of the trees. "Well isn't that inviting?" The little fox nodded in agreement to her master's sarcasm.

About half an hour later, Lisbeth and Mark approached from the village. "We're here!" boasted the energetic man as he reached the entrance to the woods. A newly crafted iron sword hung from his belt sheath.

Opening one eye from his mediation, Zuko grimaced at the unwelcomed volume. "Sorry about the wait," apologized Lisbeth as she handed the young firebender a newly crafted weapon as well. "My brother figured that we should have new equipment before we got started."

Accepting the offered weapon, the fire prince tested its weight. "Not bad," he commented as he took a few practice swings.

Taking out her own new iron mace, Lisbeth made a face at it. "They may be better than our current weapons, but they're still junk. As soon as we can start crafting on our own, I'm taking up blacksmithing. I know that I can do a better job than this."

"We just need to reach the next floor," added Mark in one of his rare moments of helpfulness. "I talked to an information broker back at the bazaar in town. The craftsman's guild has a headquarters on the second floor. We can purchase licenses to begin all sorts of different skill paths there."

Finished examining his new blade, Zuko replaced the cutting edge into its sheath. "If you're going to become a blacksmith, then make me a pair of Dao broadswords. These single short swords are too limiting." He replaced the old copper weapon at his side.

"What's a Dao broadsword?" questioned the brown haired girl.

Shaking his head the fire prince continued, "If you're going to be making weapons, then you should at least know different types of swords. A Dao is similar to a short sword but with a wider blade. It's chopping and slashing swings are more effective over a basic sword due to the design. Also it has a lighter weight. Masters of the weapon can wield a Dao in each hand as the weapons become an extension of the swordsman's body."

"But the instruction manual for this game says that only shields and throwing weapons can be wielded in a player's off-hand," replied Lisbeth. "The system won't let a player equip two main weapons in both hands at the same time."

"That may not be entirely true," interjected Mark as his wise streak continued. "Due to the compactness of a Dao, it's possible to fit a well crafted pair into a single standard sword sheath. The game might just recognize it a single weapon. A player smith might be able to create something like that, but there's no way an NPC smith would. They're restricted to the set formulas from the game. The free creation system granted to players gives them a bit more wiggle room."

Turning to the brown haired man, Zuko gave him a strange look. "That part about the weapon sheath is correct. Most practitioners of the weapon use a single scabbard. Didn't figure you to be that knowledgeable about weapons."

"I aim to surprise," smirked Mark. He turned to face the woods. "Enough small talk! Time to get this party started! Let's get in there, kill some monsters, and get out; nothing to it, you know! Unless of course we run into a field boss, or fall into a pit trap dungeon, or get lost, or meet an ancient monkey sage, or learn to fly, or…"

"Enough, we get it!" demanded Lisbeth as she smacked her brother upside the head. She turned to look at Zuko. "Still, we're just hunting one type of creature. We've got lots of recovery items and if things get too rough, then we'll return to Horunka."

Roma yipped loudly in encouragement from the side. "Alright, let's get started," finished Zuko as the group entered the woods.

* * *

A Little Nepent shattered into an array of shimmering dust as Mark finished up his attack. "And you were worried!" joked the cheerful brown haired man as he scanned the immediate area for more monsters to attack. "These guys are push-overs! One or two quick slashes to cut off the main body from their roots and presto! No more plant-like monster!"

The group had been in the woods for about an hour now. At first, they couldn't seem to find any creatures; however, as they ventured further in, the woods started to grow darker and wilder. The sun was finding it harder and harder to penetrate the leaf canopy overhead and the wind created shadows that raced across the tree line in the distance from all the swaying branches. Zuko was on edge the whole time despite being able to hide it behind his usual gruff nature. Mark had spent the first part of the hour recounting tales of his previous MMO experiences, much to the fire prince's annoyance. Lisbeth, on the other hand, was a bit more useful as she rationed out their health potions and ensured no one's hit points dipped below the green zone.

Roma sniffed the air with her nose held high. Turning to face the bushes to the left, she snarled threateningly. Without missing a beat, Zuko quickly slashed through a pair of non-descript bushes with a determined strike. Two Little Nepents erupted into a shower of multicolored pixels as they raised their heads from the bushes they were hiding in. "Excellent work." The little fox beamed at the praise.

"I'm still winning though!" called out Mark from several feet ahead with his sword waving in the air. "The count's eleven to twelve in my favor!"

"I told you that I'm not playing that stupid contest with you!" shouted back Zuko irritably as he sheathed his weapon.

"You just don't want to admit that you're going to lose!" countered the energetic brown haired man.

"Could you stay serious for five minutes?" grumbled the fire prince as he watched Mark charge ahead. "And four of those don't even count! They were Lisbeth's!"

"We're family! They still count!" laughed Mark over his shoulder. "Loser buys the next meal!"

Fuming in rage at the distant swordsman, it took a few moments for Zuko to calm himself. "I don't know which is more evil, your brother or my sister," muttered the fire prince to his brown haired companion.

"You have a sister?" asked Lisbeth in interest as another Little Nepent jumped out of the trees above them. Roma leaped over the plant's head and raked wildly with her claws. As the creature was momentarily dazed, Lisbeth swung her mace low with a two handed swing to crush the low level monster against the tree it had just jumped down from. The Nepent vanished with a cry of pain.

Pausing for a moment as he realized he had just accidentally revealed more information than he intended too, Zuko took the time the monster distraction granted him to walk further ahead. Unfortunately for him, Lisbeth wasn't one to remain sidetracked.

"Hey! I asked you a question!" she pressed a second time as she caught up.

Looking in the opposite direction of his inquisitive companion, Zuko replied offhandedly, "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh come on, she can't be any worse than Mark," laughed Lisbeth lightheartedly as she spun her weapon in her hand.

Reactively, the fire prince's right hand raised itself to his heart as his thoughts drifted to the sight of his sister shooting a bolt of blue, crackling lightning directly at him. "Trust me, she's worse."

The pair continued walking in silence for a minute after that. Roma walked a couple of feet ahead as the little fox eyed the tree branches above carefully just in case another plant creature decided to drop in. "Did you two have a fight or something?"

"Or something," smirked Zuko to himself. A sideways glance at Lisbeth's raised eyebrow and he reluctantly added, "Look, my sister and I, we've fought over everything for as long as I can remember. She's manipulative, calculating, and heartless to a fault. Anything that stands in her way, she will strike out at without remorse; even her friends and family. Not exactly a person I like to say I'm related too."

Lisbeth looked shocked at what the fire prince had just shared with her. Sure her older brother was a constant pain, but she still loved him. The way that Zuko talked about his sibling, it seemed that there was very little love between them, if any remaining. The brown haired girl started to say something, but she was cut off by a loud crashing sound from the around a bend hidden by the trees in front of them.

Immediately Zuko took off at a sprint in the direction of the crash. Lisbeth and Roma were quick to follow, only half a step behind. Breaking into a clearing, the trio saw Mark standing on the trunk of a recently overturned tree and pointing his sword at several Little Nepents at the edge of the clearing. "Hey! Look what I found!" the energetic man greeted happily.

"Don't you hey me!" shouted back Lisbeth. "My heart skipped a beat when I heard that crashing sound. I thought something bad had happened to you!"

"Nah!" laughed Mark with a smirk. "I was just walking along when this tree fell in front of me. I guess they do make a sound in the forest when they fall after all." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Though, I think that saying mentions something about when no one is around to hear it. Whatever, I think this still proves my point."

"Why do I even worry about you?" grumbled Lisbeth in relief.

Mark pointed at the Little Nepents on the other end of the clearing. There looked to be about ten or so of them and they weren't fleeing at the sight of the three players and single fox. "Look at that one in the back! I think that's the one we're looking for!"

Emerging from the tree line into the clearing was a slightly larger than normal Little Nepent with a large red flower growing on its forehead. From its tubular body, the creature's mouth smiled widely to reveal a row of large grinning teeth as its vine-like appendages waved around aimlessly. The other plant creatures surrounded the unique variant protectively.

"Looks like they don't want us to get near that one," noted Mark as he tapped the blunt end of his sword against the top of his right shoulder nonchalantly. "I'll leave the enemies on the edges to you two!" Raising his weapon high, the energetic brown haired man charged the center of the formation.

"Reckless," noted Zuko as he wasted no time rushing the right side. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Lisbeth quickly taking up position on the left wing of their impromptu spear-tip configuration. Roma brought up the rear behind Mark.

The gaggle of Little Nepents answered the players' charge with one of its own as the foremost plant monsters pushed forward. Mark reached them first. "Whirling Stampede!" he shouted as he spun into the first creature, shattering it instantly. Following up with a leap into the air, he brought his blade down heavily. "Meteor Impact!" Another Nepent exploded into dust. "That's thirteen and fourteen!" he exclaimed heartily as the remaining plant monsters seemed hesitant to initiate another attack.

Grumbling to himself about annoying teammates, Zuko parried the vines from three Little Nepents that had ganged up on him. The fire prince was unable to get an attack in as the plant monsters continued to pressure him from the front and both sides. Taking a quick hop back, the young firebender avoided a pincering maneuver from the flanking vegetation as the two collided with each other. Capitalizing on the moment, he slashed at their roots; toppling both Nepents directly in front of him. What he didn't count on however, was the third plant creature to come charging through the dissipating remnants of its comrades. Somehow managing to bring up his sword in time to block the Nepent's teeth from ripping into his throat, both the fire prince and plant creature tumbled to the ground.

"Get off of me!" grunted Zuko in excursion as he struggled to dislodge the monster pinning him down. His blade was locked tightly in the Nepent's teeth, preventing it from biting into his exposed neck. Drool from the ravenous plant monster's open maw dripped onto his face as their stalemate continued. "Ack! Disgusting!" Somehow the fire prince managed to shift his leg underneath the main body of the enemy on top of him and gathering his remaining strength, he kicked the creature upwards a few inches. Almost instantly the Nepent began to fall back down; however, Zuko had already reallocated his short sword directly into the air in front of him to impale the plant monster. The Nepent shattered into multiple multicolored pixels. Wiping the monster's drool from his face, the young firebender stood back up; his expression promising extreme pain for the remaining Little Nepents before him.

Roma yelped loudly as the little fox was suddenly lifted into the air by her left hind leg. Dangling freely like a fish on a line, the young kit struck out franticly with her claws in an effort to liberate herself from the vine wrapped around her leg which was holstering her up. A predatory snarl was etched across her captor's visage as the little fox was raised over an ever extending series of sharpened teeth and lowered slowly towards a voracious maw. Roma's struggles grew in intensity as the young kit witnessed the grim demise that awaited her.

Abruptly, the plant creature's head caved inward as an iron mace edge impacted, crushing the beast. The vine loosened immediately and Roma landed back on the ground clumsily. "How dare you try to eat my friend!" shouted Lisbeth as she followed up with another swing of her mace; luminous pixels of a defeated monster answering her declaration. The young kit jumped into the arms of her savior gratefully and proceeded to lick the brown haired girl's face in thanks. "You're alright now Roma. Just stay close to me."

A few minutes later and the last of the Nepent guards fell to the onslaught of a rambunctious Mark, an enraged Zuko, and a vigilant Lisbeth and Roma combination. The Flowering Little Nepent inched back slowly in fright as an intimidating fire prince lumbered closer. "Where do you think you're going?" asked Mark as the creature bumped into him. Before the Flowering Little Nepent could react, the brown haired man smirked and cut into the creature's roots. Zuko continued the chain by slicing off the large red flower on its head just moments before Lisbeth finished the deed with a mighty blow from her mace.

A Little Nepent Ovule x1 appeared in Zuko's hand. "Excellent work! We got what we need!" cheered Mark as Lisbeth and Roma celebrated beside him.

Wiping his already dried face again, Zuko added, "I could have done without the drool though."

"Ha! Listen to this guy!" laughed Mark as he slung his arm around the fire prince's neck and pulled him into a headlock. "You should be more thankful! That streak of raw fury helped you to tie up the score to fifteen all! Too bad Lisbeth got the final hit on that last one as well, could have been the tie-breaker. Guess we'll finish this on the way out."

Flailing his arms in an effort to break free, Zuko countered, "I thought I told you to stop keeping score!"

Off on another edge of the clearing, several bushes rustled as all three players turned to view the disturbance. Another Little Nepent emerged from the foliage. A large, bright red berry bounced on its head; a stark contrast to the empty heads of the normal garden variety Nepent or the quest monster with a large flower. "Nice! The tie-breaker showed up on its own!" joked Mark as he released Zuko and brandished his sword.

"Wait Mark," warned Lisbeth as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "We've already got what we came for and our health is still in the yellow from the last big fight." She took out a health potion. "Plus, we've only got a few of these left for the return trip."

Turning to smile at his sister, Mark grinned, "Ah don't worry sis. There's only one of them. Just let me finish this real fast and we'll be on our way." With a battle cry, he charged at the lone Little Nepent bearing a plump red fruit on its head.

"Aren't you going to fight too?" asked Lisbeth as Zuko drank his last health potion.

Finishing, the fire prince placed the empty vial back in his pouch. "If winning this silly competition will get him to shut up on the way back, then let him have this victory."

"Dragon's Rage!" exclaimed Mark loudly as he cut through the wandering Nepent easily. The creature had just stood there with a blissful expression on its face; if the ridiculous grin on its face was any indication. It didn't even seem to register the fact that a player was charging towards it or try to avoid the attack as that very player drew closer. "And sixteen means victory for me!"

The Little Nepent collapsed on the ground; its large, bright red fruit exploding into a smooth liquid as it struck the dirt. An alluringly sweet aroma began to circulate throughout the clearing as the plant creature started to dissolve into pixels. "It smells like freshly baked chocolate sweets," commented Lisbeth as she breathed in the fragrance.

Zuko also took a big whiff of the pleasant scent. "A spicy soufflé from Kirachu Island," he noted with a hidden smile.

"What are you guys talking about?" interrupted Mark. "And why does it smell like cinnamon buns all of a sudden? By the way Lisbeth, I want cinnamon buns now."

Snapping out of it, Zuko frowned abruptly. "Something's not right. This never happened when we took out any of the other plant monsters." He paused for a moment. "Quiet, can you all hear that?" The others grew mute as well. A couple of moments passed.

"I don't hear anything," observed Mark, his victory grin fading quickly. "It's like the entire forest just went silent."

"Exactly." Zuko sheathed his weapon. "We need to get out of here." The echo of shuffling wood against dirt began to sound nearby. "Now."

The group tore off at a sprint to the edge of the clearing they had initially entered from. As they reach it, they looked back to see an endless horde of Little Nepents emerging from the far tree line into the clearing, slowly engulfing the open space once again in vegetation and shrubbery. "How many are there?!" cried out Lisbeth with a quiver in her voice.

"Too many to fight!" exclaimed Zuko as he grabbed her wrist and began to flee back down the main path towards the forest entrance. Mark and Roma quickly followed.

As the trio raced down the trail, more and more Little Nepents continued to appear all throughout the woods. A large group of them materialized out of the undergrowth directly in front of the players. Drawing his sword faster than any of the monsters could react, Zuko cut down the first plant creature in their way; however, his sword arm was swiftly wrapped up in a vine from a second monster off to the side.

With a grunt, Mark sliced through the entrapping vine with his own weapon before cutting the plant creature down. "There's not enough time to fight our way through. Not unless we want the rest to catch up! This way!" Breaking between two oak trees, Mark leapt off the beaten path and pushed further into the woods; his teammates following rapidly.

"We need to get out of the forest! Not charge deeper into it!" shouted Lisbeth from behind her brother. Roma wove underneath a raised tree root as she scrambled to keep up with the group. Since they had diverted from the main path, the foliage was getting thicker and thicker as the group's ability to traverse it was quickly diminishing. "They're going to catch us at this rate!"

As if to prove her point, several vines shot out from the shadows of the trees to pin both of Lisbeth's arms back. "Help! I can't move!" Another vine wrapped around her left leg causing her to fall to the ground as she felt herself pulled backwards. "Help me!"

Acting as one, both Mark and Zuko reacted. Drawing his blade once more with lightning speed, the fire prince slashed through all three extending vines with one single clean and fluid motion. As one of capturing Nepents reared back in pain, Mark fell upon it in fury swinging his blade with finality. Roma growled loudly at the nearby bushes as both swordsmen made quick work of the two remaining hidden plant monsters.

Sheathing his weapon, Zuko reached down to help Lisbeth back to her feet. "You okay?"

Taking the offered hand, the brown haired girl nodded. "Thank you, both of you. I thought they had me." She tried to stand but cried out in pain instead as she gripped her right ankle. "I've got a sprain!"

"This isn't good," cursed Mark as he knelt to examine his sister's injury. "The only status recovery items we have are for poison and burns. Horunka Village didn't sell any braces. We need to get you to an inn to rest and recover. Zuko, help me lift her up. We've got to move."

The group continued to move forward, albeit at a much reduced pace. The sounds of their pursuers grew closer and closer. "They just don't give up do they?" groaned Mark as he checked the forest behind them.

"It gets worse," cursed Zuko as the group came to a halt. The ground rose sharply before them. The team was staring up at an eight foot vertical cliffside wall that rose up to another level of the forest. The fire prince took a quick look to both the left and right. "It's hard to see with all these trees and branches, but it looks like this rise continues in both directions."

Without missing a beat, Mark directed Zuko to ease Lisbeth in sitting position alongside the wall. Then leaning his back against the earthen barrier, he cupped his hands together as he knelt down a bit. "Here, I'll boost you up."

Using the foothold Mark provided, the fire prince scaled the raised divide and quickly scanned the immediate area. "Looks clear for now. No signs of monsters." He looked back at the way they had come. Countless waves of Little Nepents were rapidly approaching. They would be upon the group in minutes. "We need to keep moving! They're almost here!"

Mark kissed his sister's forehead. "Don't worry; I'll get you out of here. I promised our grandparents didn't I?" Lifting her gently, he raised the brown haired girl up to the waiting arms of the young firebender. "Keep her safe."

As Zuko finished helping Lisbeth scale the wall, Mark lifted up Roma. "I know you didn't like me as much as I enjoyed your company, but it was a pleasure to travel with you." The little fox stared at Mark strangely for a moment before licking his face. With a grim smile, Mark raised the little fox high up for the young kit to hop up the wall as well.

The fire prince reached down a second time. "Alright Mark, let's go! They're coming!" The happy-go-lucky man turned away from the earthen wall and drew his short sword. "What are you doing?! We need to get out of here now! You can't win against that many! I don't care how good you think you are! Their numbers will overwhelm you!"

Without looking back at the young firebender, Mark's voice became deathly serious. "Get Lisbeth out of here. We'll never make it at our current pace unless someone slows these mindless beasts down."

"Mark no! We'll fight together!" Lisbeth drew her mace as she tried to crawl back to the cliffside. Zuko held her back.

"Tell grandpa and grandma, I'm sorry," stated Mark as the first of the Little Nepents broke pass the tree line. He cut them down.

"We can't just leave," started Zuko.

More Little Nepents continued to arrive. "I said get out of here!" shouted Mark in anger. "I'm the leader and I order you all to run and keep running! Stay alive! That's what's important!"

Mark's sharp tone left no room for any further arguments. Zuko watched helplessly for another moment as the battle continued. "Damn it," he cursed lowly. "You were a pain right to the end you jerk!" Picking up Lisbeth bridal style, the young firebender turned away from the fight.

"No! Put me down!" screamed Lisbeth in fury. "We're not abandoning my brother!" She took a swing at him with her mace after he refused to let her go. Zuko just absorbed the hit without protest. She went on to strike him again and again, each blow weaker than the last before she dropped her weapon and cried freely into his shoulder. Zuko just continued to run without looking back as Roma raced alongside him in silence. A single hidden tear ran down his good eye.

Watching the fire prince disappear over the raised earthen wall with his sister in tow, Mark grinned. "Thank you." More and more Little Nepents flooded into the area. There was no end to them. Stretching his sword arm and cracking his neck, Mark smirked. "Not a single one of you are getting up that cliff as long as I draw breath." He stared the countless foes down ferociously. "Now who's first to face the daring hero?"

Several minutes later a shimmer of multicolored sparkling pixels broke through the forest tree line overhead and drifted away in the gentle evening breeze.


	6. Moving Forward

A/N: Please Enjoy and Review

**Chapter 6 – Moving Forward**

Zuko marched down the main dirt road away from the Town of Beginnings with Roma at his side, the little fox's head hanging sadly as she trudged alongside her master; the ever bright sunlight shining down upon the grassy meadow a stark contrast to the mood felt by the grieving duo. They had yet to cross paths with any other players or monsters since they had set out and the fire prince was perfectly content with that.

He didn't really have a destination in mind, but he couldn't stay back there in the Town of Beginnings for any longer than he had too. In the short time since he had entered this world, the place already held far too many bad memories. Raising his hand slowly to lightly caress his still tender left cheek, Zuko could feel the persistent phantom pain from where Lisbeth had slapped him a short while ago. As the young firebender continued along the earthen road, his thoughts began to drift.

Their escape had been successful. With Mark holding back the pursuers, Zuko and Lisbeth somehow managed to cut through the wilderness to return to Horunka Village. The fire prince ignored the blatant expression of pity on the grizzled woodsman's face as he carried Lisbeth pass the outer farms and back into the village proper. She remained silent ever since they entered the inn; barricading herself inside her room for several days. Every time Zuko knocked on the door a message that read 'The room host has denied your entrance' would appear.

During the interim, the fire prince sought out the old woman who Mark had accepted the fateful quest from. The lady didn't even seem to notice that Zuko was not the same person who had accepted the quest in the first place, only that he had the mission item in his possession. She took the Little Nepent Ovule and rewarded him with two thousand Col and a weapon of his choice from her son's blacksmith shop. His options had been a hefty double sided axe, an elegant looking spear, a stout one handed mace, or a sleek dagger. There used to be a finely crafted sword in the mix as well; however, it had been chosen by the player who had helped the old woman collect an ovule several days ago for the first batch of medicine. Zuko had left with the mace.

On the third day, the fire prince arranged for passage back to the Town of Beginnings with a merchant caravan traveling in that direction in exchange for providing protection for the traders and their goods. He barely managed to coax Lisbeth out of her room by telling her that he was taking her back to her grandparents. The brown haired girl sat in the last wagon of the caravan without talking the entire trip. Her feet dangled off the backside of the cart as she lied on her back and watched the clouds pass overhead. Roma remained at her side during the total trek.

The trip itself was fairly uneventful. A few wolves would probe the edges of the caravan every now and then, but Zuko swiftly took care of them without too much trouble. The wagons themselves helped to cut down on travel time as well. They had reached the Town of Beginnings by the end of the day.

Finding Hannes and Anka wasn't all that difficult despite the monumental size of the city. Since they were on Lisbeth's friends list, their positions within the city appeared on her map. The stoic brown haired girl led the way without a word as she carried Roma. Zuko followed behind closely.

The grandparents had been walking out of a restaurant when Zuko and Lisbeth ran into them. A moment of silence passed as the two groups saw each other. The look on Lisbeth's face and the absence of Mark explained the entire situation without any words needing to be exchanged. She broke down into her grandmother's arms as the two hugged one another fiercely. Giving the two grieving females some space, Zuko pulled Hannes over to the side and explained everything in detail; from the acceptance of the fateful quest, to their trek into the dark forest, to the triggering of a monster trap, and finishing with Mark's sacrifice.

The elder gentleman took in the information solemnly without a single interruption. There was nothing further to be said. He simply thanked Zuko for returning his granddaughter to them safely. Afterwards Zuko handed Lisbeth all the Col collected from the quest along with the reward item, an Anneal Mace. He had said that Mark probably would have wanted her to have them. He received a loud cracking slap directly across his left cheek in response, an action that stunned him for a moment. Looking back at Lisbeth, her eyes were full of tears that were freely flowing down her cheeks. He left the items with Hannes as he apologized for their loss one more time and departed from the mournful family.

Zuko was a good distance away from the Town of Beginnings by now. On his left, he was passing by a group of players having lunch on the side of the road. There were six in total, all males. One of them, a red haired player with a crimson headband called out to him. "Hey there buddy! You hungry? We've got plenty to spare."

The fire prince continued his downcast march without an answer as Roma looked back at the spread of food on the ground forlornly. Most of the eating party members shrugged and figured that the scarred swordsman was just unsocial; however, the red haired player who had called out watched the traveling swordsman stride away with a concerned eye.

Looking up into the sky, Zuko observed a large white cloud leisurely floating as it passed over the sun, casting an engulfing shadow over the grassy meadow. The fire prince's thoughts continued to reflect back to his time in the Town of Beginnings.

He was standing in a large stone building, darkened save for the light that entered from the various thin vertical stained glass windows lining the tall walls and the large circular stained glass window depicting a glimmering star on the ceiling. A gigantic stone tablet stood elevated on the far end of the building's interior, opposite the main doors. All ten thousand names of every Sword Art Online player were engraved on the graphite stone. Those that had died had their names crossed out with a thin line and the cause, time, day, and month of death were recorded next to the name. A solemn tribute that reminded all players of the harsh reality awaiting them should they reach zero hit points; a memorial with the ironic name the Monument of Life.

Tirelessly searching the tablet, it took Zuko a considerable amount of time to locate Mark's name. He eventually found it clustered together with Lisbeth's, Hannes', and Anka's names a little off center from the middle of the stone near the top left. Mark's name had been crossed out and written beside it was 'Killed by a horde of Little Nepents; 1834 (server time); 09 Nov.'

The fire prince had sought out his own name as well; however, it was nowhere to be found anywhere along the stone tablet. That was when he noticed another much smaller tablet tucked away in the side corner of the building behind the shadow of dark pillar, as if it had been added in as an afterthought and out of the way on purpose. Written on tiny memorial stone was only a single name, his name; and it was separate from all the other names. There were only a few other players milling about in the building as most people chose to avoid this place, and none of them were paying particularity any attention to anything other than the memorial wall.

Picking up a wooden crate from a nearby storage corner, Zuko moved it in front of the smaller graphite tablet as he continued to shift several other crates over and stack them in an effort to hide his name. He didn't want the off-chance of someone discovering his name written on a location different from all the others and to start asking questions around town that he didn't want to answer.

The deed done, the fire prince walked back over to Mark's name on the stone wall and pulled out several rolls of cinnamon buns that he had wrapped in a red and white checkered cloth. He had purchased them from Piri's Bakery earlier. The NPC baker had raised her skill a little bit in the short time since he had last visited and increased the selection of her products. The buns had been costly since they were the newest unlocked creation, but Zuko gladly paid the price for them.

Taking one, he raised it high in a toast to his former companion's name. "You won remember? This meal's on me." Taking a bite from the cinnamon bun, the fire prince placed it back on the cloth with the other four he had purchased. "Eat up." With that, the young firebender turned and began the silent walk back towards the entrance.

Zuko had to duck as his head almost collided with a low hanging tree branch that he barely noticed. The impromptu action caused him to stumble and lose his footing, resulting in his current sitting position. Roma hopped onto his lap as she looked at him in concern. "Sorry for worrying you girl. I'm just a little distracted I guess." He looked around a bit. For some reason, the area looked familiar. Then he spied a raised wooden root sticking up out of the ground next to the hill to his right. Everything fell into place as he scrambled to look at the nearby bushes.

"I know this place," he whispered as he spread apart the shrubs. The tunnel entrance was still there. "One last loose end to tie up." The fire prince jumped into the cavern with his trusty furry partner.

The light of the glowing rocks on the cavern's ceiling illuminated overhead as Zuko entered. He could see the faint cobalt hue of the flowers decorating the crumbling memorial as well. A colossal brown bear rose from her slumber in the center of the cave. Her two cubs stirred as well as their mother rose. The fire prince's old sword had remained buried in the brown bear's side from where he had stabbed it during his retreat.

The massive ursine bellowed in challenge as she took notice of the intruder. "Good to see you again too," greeted Zuko as he placed his hand on his weapon's sheath calmly. "I don't want to hurt you or your cubs, but there's something in this place that I need." The brown bear reared up on her hind legs as she revealed her claws. "Fine, but remember you picked this option."

As he launched himself at the standing bear, the beast made to swipe at the young firebender with her claws. Just before the impact, Zuko dropped and slid between the hind legs of the ursine. Dropping back down on all fours in surprise, the bear was unprepared as the fire prince drew his sword from behind and spun quickly to cut deeply into her fur. Howling in pain, she retreated a few steps as her health gauge took a significant drop. "I guess what Mark said about leveling up and equipping stronger weapons was right. I hardly left a scratch on the creature last time I used an attack like that."

Hearing their mother in pain, the grogginess of the two cubs left them instantly. They roared in anger and lunged at the person who dared to harm their protector. A crimson mass of fur intercepted the rush as it collided with the smaller of the two cubs, knocking both into the larger cub. All three figures rolled into a vicious tangle of claws, fangs, and fur as they fought for dominance. Confident that Roma could handle herself this time around, Zuko kept his eyes on his own opponent as the two circled slowly and stared each other down.

The brown bear attacked first this time with a pouncing swipe using her right claw that the young firebender stepped back from. Undeterred, a swooping change-up swing with her left claw followed, forcing Zuko to retreat another step. The mother bear was unrelenting as she kept up the combo and pressed the fire prince back against the far wall. He raised his sword to parry, but was unprepared when the strike impacted the metal of the blade. As a result, his weapon was knocked out of his hands and went skidding across the ground.

With the rough and unyielding stone wall preventing him from withdrawing any further, Zuko was forced to shift his head to the right to evade a pounding paw that was meant to pulverize. The wall shook in protest against the might of attack. Rapidly he drew his head back to the left against the bear's extended limb to avoid the other swing with the other paw. With both her paws leaning on the wall, the massive ursine turned her own head at an angle as she thrusted her head forward to bite into her prey with her razor sharp fangs.

Eyes wide at the danger rushing to finish him, Zuko felt his legs drop out from under him as he fell directly to the ground and pushed off against the wall to dive to the side. As he rolled he picked back up his sword. Frustrated at losing her quarry, the mother bear roared as she slammed her paws against the wall in anger. The entire cavern shook at the impact as several more glowing rocks and dirt fell from the ceiling.

"If she keeps crashing against the wall like that, this whole place could come down," noted Zuko as he observed the area.

Coming out of their roll, the smaller cub was tossed out of the huddle. Roma crawled her way on top of the larger cub and raked his face sharply. As the cub bellowed in anguish, the little kit bit down forcefully with her tiny maw. The series of brutal attacks proved to be too much. The larger cub's health gauge drained empty and the creature shattered into several radiance sparkles of light.

Seeing her child's demise, the mother bear went into a bloodthirsty rage as she charged wildly at the young kit, who was dwarfed in comparison to the size of infuriated giant. With a curse at the unexpected change, Zuko moved to intercept his pet from being blindsided.

Nevertheless, at his current angle, there was no way he was going to make it in time. Scooping up a decent sized rock as he ran, the young firebender threw it as hard as he could at the frenzied mass of wrath and fur. Spiraling as it flew, the rock struck true against the embedded blade in the bear's side causing it to drive in deeper. The pain from the renewed wound gave the mother bear enough pause for Zuko to catch up.

With a leap, he kicked the broken embedded blade even further in, all the way up to its hilt. Spring boarding up above the brown bear, the fire prince pointed his sword down as gravity took command and pulled the young fire prince into a descent. The iron short sword impacted deep into the neck of the massive ursine as the beast collapsed onto the ground from the crash. Her hit point gauge plummeted empty. With a growl of finality, the brown bear erupted into an array of multicolored pixels.

Breathing heavily in exhaustion, Zuko failed to notice the smaller cub leaping at him from behind. At least until Roma leapt at him from the front, her claws extended fully. Ducking backwards, the fire prince watched as his pet sailed directly over him to collide squarely with the last remaining threat in the cave. The smaller cub wasn't expecting any resistance as it was not ready for the graceful little kit to weave her way through his burly paws and claw him directly in his face.

As the two crashed to the ground, Roma used her opponent to soften the fall. The explosion of the smaller cub into shimmering polygons signaled the end of the battle. Picking himself up, Zuko stretched his sword arm as he walked over to his pet. Picking her up, he smiled, "We're going to make this a regular occurrence aren't we? How many times have you saved my neck now?" The young fox licked his face in response.

Digging two health potions out of his pack, both pet and master restored their lost hit points. Zuko knelt to examine the glowing rocks that had fallen onto the ground during the intensity of the fight. They glowed brightly with a lasting sheen. "Whatever these things are made out of, they looks useful." One thing Zuko had noticed during his time in this strange world was that whatever he placed into his pack did not increase its overall weight. For some reason, he could carry whatever and as much as he wanted in that pack. Mark had called it the magic of the inventory pack or something like that. Picking up every glowing stone he could find, Zuko made his way over to the field of faint blue flowers around the memorial rubble.

As he approached, a chest appeared in front of the ruins. A decorative parchment note was pinned on top of the wooden strongbox, which Zuko picked up first.

_'Zuko, I apologize for making you work to collect these items but Lord Death would only allow it if there was danger involved. The type of assistance we spirits can provide you with is very limited, but these gifts should help remind you what it is you're fighting for. Your friends buried you with these items; therefore, it's only right that you should have them in this challenge to regain your life._

_ -The Painted Lady_

_P.S. Roku wishes to convey a message as well: Make new friendships, there's a limit to what you can accomplish by yourself.'_

"Friends," muttered Zuko as he reread the note a second time. "I've already seen how well that works out for me." Placing the paper in a pocket on his tunic, he lifted the lid of the chest and peered inside. Lying there on the bottom was a cherished Water Tribe necklace, a ceremonial Earth Kingdom dagger, and a single Pai Sho tile.

* * *

Almost one month had passed since the start of this death game. During that time, approximately two thousand people had died. Additionally, no one had yet been able to clear the first floor. The morale of the active players still searching in an effort to find a way out of their predicament was at rock bottom. The majority of people were beginning to believe that they would die in this game; that there was no way out. One month and still no one had been able to find the first floor boss, not even the beta testers who had prior experience in this world.

"Alright, I'll admit it. We're officially lost," acknowledged Zuko as he stared at the blank wall of a dead end. "It's like every path in here leads to nowhere." Roma stretched her back like a cat as she prepared to turn around. "Well, there are still a few more paths we have to try before we're finished checking this place out. Let's head back to the main chamber."

He had been traveling throughout this labyrinth for a couple of hours with his furry companion. While most of the populous had slowed on seeking a way out of this death game, Zuko was determined to finish his challenge and return to the Fire Nation. Refusing to work with anyone else ever since his initial disastrous team up, the fire prince relied only on Roma to watch his back as he ventured into dungeon after dungeon looking for the path to the next floor.

Underneath his dark crimson tunic a Water Tribe pendant hung on a long metal chain. He had initially taken the piece to a jeweler back in the Town of Beginnings to have the original blue leather strap lengthened to fit his neck as it was bigger than the necklace's original owner. Unfortunately, the jeweler explained to him that the materials needed to produce another blue leather strap couldn't be found until a higher level floor. Instead he kept the original strap folded in a chest pocket on the upper left of his tunic and had the jeweler use a simple metal chain.

Secured tightly at his side, opposite of his short sword, was an elegant Earth Kingdom pearl handled dagger that the fire prince had received from his uncle back when he was a child. Inscribed on one side of the blade was the phrase 'Never give up without a fight.' The dagger was one of his most cherished possessions; one that Zuko had carried on his person for as long as he could remember. Having it hang from his side once more granted him the feeling that his uncle has joined along on his travels again.

His third gift, a White Lotus Pai Sho tile, rested within another pouch on his hip. The wooden chip looked to be hand-carved by his uncle as well. The etched tea leaf on the back of the tile expressed as much.

"So right, left, or center?" asked Zuko as the duo stared down a fork in the road. "It's your turn to pick." Roma took her time to sniff the entrance to each corridor as she paced back and forth amongst them. Lingering on the left passage, she turned her head at the fire prince. "Works for me." The two started down the path.

The labyrinth itself was decrepit. The walls were broken in multiple places as the structural integrity of several of the pillars holding up the ceiling was questionable at best. Many of the torches illuminating the corridors were burned out and left a large portion of the dungeon in low visible light.

A shadow shifting in the faint light was the only warning that Zuko received before a figure jumped out at him from the darkness. Leaping back instantly, the young firebender narrowly avoided a heavy spiked mace head meant for his side. Parrying the follow up swing with his weapon, the fire prince locked weapons with a kobold fighter, a humanoid type creature that looked similar to a kangaroo. The monster was wearing an open faced helmet and a simple loincloth without any other pieces of armor; clearly marking it as a lower leveled beast in this kobold heavy dungeon. Since no other creatures seemed to join in the attack, the kobold must have been a scavenger as this type of monster usually fought in packs of three or four.

As the two warriors remained locked in combat, Roma leapt onto Zuko's shoulder and bared her fangs at the kobold scavenger. The creature hissed in response as the young fox lunged at his face and raked her claws across his features. Howling in pain, the kobold momentarily staggered back a step. Immediately capitalizing on his advantage, Zuko knocked the mace out of his opponent's hand and ran him through. The kobold burst into polygons.

"That was simple. Our teamwork's getting better," stated the fire prince as he lowered his blade. "Hey, what's that?" Scanning down the corridor a ways, he noticed four brightly burning torches illuminating a gigantic set of stone doors. Running up to the chamber opening, he examined the entryway. "I think we found what we've been searching for Roma."

Gripping one of the two large handles, Zuko pushed with all his might to crack the door open. There was actually much less resistance than the fire prince expected as the door gave way quite easily as soon as he touched it. Looking inside, the entire chamber was covered in darkness, save for the light from the torches still burning back in the outer corridor. Zuko glanced down at Roma with uncertainty as the little kit seemed to share his anxiety. Taking a deep breath to steel himself, the fire prince ventured inside slowly.

Instantly the whole inner structure flashed as light spread throughout the chamber from the door inward. The fire prince was standing in a throne room. A series of red pinwheel designed stones lined a long stretching black centerline straight through the area as numerous sturdy stone pillars graced either side of the centerline leading up to a majestic throne at the far end of the chamber. The pillars were holding up a strange webbed ceiling consisting of rainbow colored lights.

Searching deeper into the throne room, Zuko spied a pair of glowing crimson eyes. There on the king's seat sat a daunting figure, an enormous pale red creature that easily dwarfed the other kobolds that the fire prince had been fighting in this labyrinth all day long. The beast wore an expensive looking purple silk loincloth and a battle-proven, grey spiked helm. Two silver diamonds were painted within one another on his bloated pale red stomach. Unlike the kobold scavenger Zuko had fought moments before, this beast had the appearance of a veteran warrior. A wicked looking bone axe leaned against the throne on the right side; Zuko had a feeling that the warrior was quite proficient with it.

With a challenging howl, the massive kobold leaped out of its raised throne to land at the bottom of the steps leading up to his king's seat. The ground trembled as the creature impacted. Above his head, white letters spelled out the name, 'Illfang, the Kobold Lord' and four long hit point gauges charged full of green color. Three additional kobolds materialized into existence in front of their lord. These creatures bore heavy golden plate armor and sharp spiked two handed maces as more white letters appeared over each of them to read 'Ruin Kobold Sentinel.' As soon as the health bars of triple body guards were filled, the entire enemy squad charged directly at the intruder to their throne room.

As he watched his opponents rampage on to close the distance, Zuko's hand flew to his short sword. "This one's going to be rough! Roma, try to draw some of those minions off to the side!" The duo broke away in opposite directions as each raced towards the only real cover in the throne room, the stone pillars. Two minions peeled off to chase after the little red fox while the Kobold Lord and one of his sentinels held the course towards the young firebender.

Placing the pillar between himself and the monsters, Zuko was surprised to witness Illfang actually speed up instead of slow down. With a roar of strength, the Kobold Lord cleaved through the stone pillar with his bone axe like it wasn't even there. Backpedaling further, Zuko put more distance between himself and his opponent as the column shattered into hundreds of pieces, spewing debris everywhere. "That…was unexpected," the fire prince breathed out as he braced for the next strike.

It came hard and fast as Illfang spun through his destruction of the stone pillar and used the flat of his bone axe to strike the ruin kobold sentinel at his side forward. Propelled with the additional force from Illfang, the sentinel literally flew through the air as he made a beeline at the unprepared fire swordsman; the spiked mace of the sentinel extended directly out in front and positioned to impact the fire prince's head.

"Whoa!" shouted Zuko, diving to the ground as the sentinel sailed pass him and collided with the back wall, shattering instantly from the force of the shocking contact. "That was way too close."

Not giving the firebender time to breathe, Illfang was already upon him again; bone axe dropping vertically from a high raised right arm to form a full crescent swing. Rolling in the direction of the center of the throne room, Zuko could feel the rush of air and the rocks from the exploding collision as the axe broke through the ground. Despite evading the main blow, his health gauge dropped a bit from the debris that struck him.

Picking himself up, the fire swordsman stood tall once more. "I should thank you," he taunted the Kobold Lord. "Without that minion to get in the way, it's just you and me." The iron metal blade in his hands held firm as Zuko locked his ready stance.

Howling in frustration, Illfang reversed his grip on his axe and yanked it out of the ground sharply as he flung even more debris from the impact site at the fire prince. Sidestepping the worst of it, Zuko used his blade to deflect the smaller chucks of rock that came too close for comfort. The Kobold Lord charged directly behind his diversion.

Parrying the first strike, Zuko deflected the follow-up shield bash and redirected the third axe swing towards the ground as he returned two quick slashes; leaving a glowing red cross slash radiating distinctly on the white painted diamonds on Illfang's chest. A fair amount of life drained from the Kobold's first health bar. "So you can bleed," smirked Zuko in superiority.

Enraged, Illfang raised his shield in front of him to protect himself as the axe in his right hand glowed brightly. "Oh no you don't!" shouted Zuko as he struck out against the barrier of metal held out before him. Knocking down the shield, the fire prince's eyes grew wide as he saw the massive kobold's attack finish priming. With a burst of speed, Illfang lashed out with his bone crushing axe skill as Zuko braced his weapon in front of him to prevent being cleaved in two.

Flying back from the force of the blow, the fire swordsman landed in a heap several feet away. "Can't take another one of those," wheezed Zuko as he watched his life drop to the cusp between yellow and red.

Roma rushed to the fallen fire prince's side. The young fox appeared worse for wear as she breathed in and out with heavy bursts. Glancing back in the direction from which she had been distracting the other two sentinels, Zuko noticed the kobold minions rallying to their leader. "These guys are on a whole other level from anything else we've ever fought," determined the fire prince as he took in the entire situation. If he could somehow find a chance to drink a health potion, then he could keep the fight going; however, he seriously doubted that Illfang would give him the chance. And despite that, there was no way he had enough recovery items to keep up this fight for long if his opponent could hit as hard as he did. "It's time to withdraw."

Signaling for Roma to fall back, the two rushed for the entrance behind them. Zuko glanced over his shoulder to observe how Illfang reacted to their retreat. He gaped as he saw a gigantic bone axe spiraling through the air as it swirled towards his back. Dropping into a feet first slide, the pressure of the blade sliced through the space he had previously been occupying mere moments ago as the weapon embedded itself deep into the outer stone corridor wall as the heavy granite door shut behind the fleeing duo.

Zuko could hear a roar of fury erupting from the Kobold Lord within the locked throne room as he panted heavily on his back and stared up at the torches still lighting up the passageway. Roma laid sprawled out on her stomach next to him, her front and back legs extended in opposite directions. "Well at least we got one of them," joke the fire prince with a tense smile as he tried to alleviate the tension they both felt.

"Got one of what?" came a voice from down the corridor.

Instantly, Zuko and Roma were both on guard as the fire prince bared his blade and the young kit growled menacingly. A full party of six players approached the light of the torches from the darkened corridor. A blue haired swordsman wearing heavy bronze armor lifted both his hands to reveal that he was unarmed. "Easy there, we're just searching for the boss room."

"Whoa! Hey Diabel, look at that!" exclaimed one of the blue haired leader's teammates. The lance user was pointing at the daunting looking bone axe buried deep into the opposite stone wall halfway up the blade face. "That thing must weight a ton!" Three of the players all grabbed the long weapon handle and attempted to pull the axe from its entombment with little success; the cleaver was wedged tight.

Giving a low appreciative whistle, Diabel turned his attention back to Zuko, who had lowered his blade slightly but did not sheath it. "Looks like we missed the party. Does that door lead to where I think it does?"

Finally relenting, the fire prince replaced his sword edge into its scabbard. Roma relaxed in conjunction with this action. "It leads to a bunch of really angry kobolds, if that's what you want to know. One of them was called Illfang."

Diabel pulled out a little notebook from a pouch at his side and flipped through it rapidly. Stopping on a marked page, he reread a section of text before smiling widely. "We found it guys. This door leads to the first floor boss."

Shouts of "Really?!," "Alright!," and "About time" rang out from the other players in his group as they halted in their attempts to dislodge the axe from the wall. "So what's the plan boss?"

Diabel looked at the grey graphite door. "Are those howls coming from inside?" He glanced back at the fire prince. "You didn't happen to enter by yourself did you? What happened to your party?"

Zuko crossed his arms. "I only have one partner." Roma yipped loudly at his side.

"You're either crazy or stupid," commented Diabel. "Probably both." He measured up Zuko again as he tried to determine how strong the flame swordsman was from his appearance alone. "Don't think I caught your name."

"No, you didn't," came the guarded answer from the fire prince.

"Tough guy, huh?" laughed off Diabel. "Goes well with the scar. You get that from Illfang?"

"No," came the sharp and simple reply.

Scratching the back of his head, Diabel didn't ask further. He turned face to his team instead. "Whatever. Anyway, the best course of action would be to get in there and scout out the boss before we come back with a raid party. However, since our gung-ho comrade over here decided it would be a good idea to go and kick the hornet's nest, it sounds like that option's out." As if to reinforce that decision, a loud crashing thud echoed through the throne room doors. "You must have really pissed that boss off," joked Diabel as he glanced over his shoulder at Zuko.

Turning back to his team, the blue haired swordsman announced, "Let's head back to Tolbana Town. It's only about a half hour walk to this dungeon from there. We'll get the word out on the message boards and form a raid party to take this boss down." He lifted up his small notebook. "This will tell us all we need to know to beat this Illfang creature anyways."

Zuko eyed the notebook in Diabel's hand with curiosity. _'How does this guy already have information on the level one floor boss? Didn't he just say that his team was searching for this place?'_ The blue haired swordsman turned back to face him.

"You see anything useful in there?" the party leader asked.

Keeping his answer simple, Zuko just replied with, "There were Illfang and three bodyguards wearing heavy armor. That axe you see in the wall was what he threw at me as I withdrew."

Diabel nodded his head as he checked his notes. "Sounds like nothing's changed too much. Great! We'll be able to handle this easily with a raid party in a day or two after we gather some more people. Head back into town with us; I'd like to ask you a couple more questions, if you don't mind."

Reluctantly, Zuko joined the group as they started to make their way back towards the labyrinth's entrance. He wasn't actually overjoyed at the thought of traveling with other players for any period of time, but he had some questions himself about the notebook Diabel was waving around.


	7. Introductions and Stratagem

A/N: Please Enjoy and Review

**NeoNazo356**: Thanks for the reviews. When it comes to whether or not Zuko takes up his Blue Spirit mask again, I've been toying with some ideas on that already. I'll need to develop the proper event chain for that to happen first of course; since he discarded the Blue Spirit mask and weight it carried back in Book 2, Episode 17 "Lake Laogai" of the Last Airbender series.

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Introductions and Stratagem**

As the blue haired swordsman led his followers into Tolbana Town, he directed one of them to post a notification on the quest board in town to alert players in the area of their discovery. The plan was to have the assembly occur tomorrow, a little after midday. The rest of the group went their own way until the next day except for Diabel, Zuko, and Roma; who all remained at the fountain square.

"Wow, I still can't believe you managed to hold off Illfang for a couple of minutes by yourself," appraised the blue haired swordsman as he followed the young firebender to the nearby local pub. "Not too many players could manage something like that. Were you in the beta test? I heard that those kind of players know how to fight and win against lots of different types of monsters."

Ignoring the question probing player, Zuko held the door open for Roma to enter the pub before he closed it in Diabel's face. Unseen by the fire prince, the blue haired swordsman's fake smile fell as an irritated scowl replaced it. Reaffixing an earnest expression, Diabel pushed the entrance open into the rowdy establishment.

"I'll take that as a yes then," commented Diabel as he pulled up a stool next to the fire swordsman at the bar. "Don't worry, I'll keep your secret; but it will cost you. You told me about your fight with the floor boss and his minions. What I still want to know is the chamber layout. The more I know about the place, the easier it will be to plan out the battle so that we can all survive until the end. You wouldn't want anyone dying when we face Illfang in two days do you?"

Taking a long satisfying, gentle sip of the jasmine tea in his hand, Zuko replaced the empty small cup back onto the bar. Diabel smirked. "Tea? In a pub? Who orders something as ridiculous as that?" Signaling the barkeep for a pint, the blue haired swordsman took a deep swig of his draft. "That's the stuff. Kayaba Akihiko really knew what he was doing when he made this game. There's no real alcohol content since it's a virtual world and all, but that genius made it so that your mind would still be tricked into feeling the same effects as it would in the real world. The buzz is a little different, but it's damn close." He leaned in closer to the fire prince, "You want one?"

The blue haired swordsman felt a sharp metal blade dig lightly into his side. Looking down, Diabel spied an elegant looking dagger pressed up against the edge of his stomach, hidden from view from the rest of the pub by the angle of their seats. "You're quite the talker," weighed in Zuko finally as he waved down the barkeep again to bring a meal over for Roma. "Strong arming and blackmail work a little better when you wait a breath or two between them."

A moment passed before Diabel broke out in laugher. "That's rich! You know that physical threats are worthless in towns and villages right? Our life bars can't go down in these safe zones unless we're in a duel."

"Unfortunately," griped Zuko as he retracted the knife edge.

"Let's keep it civil then," smiled Diabel as he drank from his mug again. "No reason to create a scene here. Just answer my questions and I'll be on my way; what did the boss chamber look like on the inside?"

Replacing his pearl handled dagger back onto his belt, Zuko hesitated slightly before he replied with, "It's an large open area with lots of stone pillars heading towards the throne at the far end."

Diabel frowned. "That doesn't sound too promising. Are the pillars at least scattered throughout the place?"

"No. I told you they're arranged in a straight line from one end to the other, fairly close to the walls but maybe about two-thirds away from the center on either side," corrected Zuko. "The throne on the far end is on a raised platform about maybe four or five feet up."

"No cover and no place to lay in ambush," deduced the blue haired swordsman. "This will be a straight up fight. We'll need a couple of tanking and DPS teams to be switching back and forth to deal with the boss while a few other groups keep the minions in check. Basic tactics, but reliable none the less."

The barkeep finished refilling the tea cup in front of the fire prince. Keeping a hold on the replenished cup, Zuko asked a question of his own, "My turn. That notebook you were waving around back in the labyrinth, where did you get it?"

Diabel scoffed. Pulling out the notebook of interest and holding it up, the blue haired swordsman flipped through the pages with indifference. "You mean this ratty old thing? You're joking right? These have been on the trading post ever since the first week. Some beta tester wrote it to help new players get used to the game. All the smart players were sure to pick one up as well." He smirked again. "Though, if you ask me, for all the good information written in here, that moron who put it on the trading post in the first place could have made a small fortune by adding a fee instead of just letting it go for no charge. That's what I would have done at least."

"Of course you would have," grumbled Zuko under his breath. Roma looked up from her meal as her ears picked up her master's tone. Diabel didn't seem to hear anything.

Instead, the blue haired swordsman's mail icon started to flash. As he selected the envelope icon overhead, a message appeared in front of him. "Looks like the meeting is set for tomorrow at one in the open amphitheater." Another flash of his mailing icon. Opening the second message, Diabel frowned.

"No one accepting the job?" probed Zuko sarcastically.

Dispelling the virtual letter before him, Diabel smirked himself. "Plenty of people have already signed on. That was a letter from my girl back in the Town of Beginnings. She's smoking hot when I get her to take off her glasses and let her hair out of that silly ponytail. Unfortunately she's got a protective side when it comes to children, and she started an orphanage back there to look after all the young brats who joined this game. She keeps trying to get me to help her out with the little monsters. Probably about time I cut her loose. After we clear this floor, we'll be the heroes who showed this game can be beaten. Much more passionate women will flock to us."

"You mean loose, not passionate," countered Zuko as he accepted the rest of the unfinished meal Roma was offering him by nudging the plate closer with her head. "Not interested."

"With that cold attitude of yours, it doesn't really matter anyway," returned Diabel as he stood to leave. Leaning on Zuko's shoulder with his arm, he spoke once more, "One last question, did Illfang have a sword strapped to his back?"

Shrugging the offending limb off, the fire prince simply spat out, "Yes."

With his fake smile still plastered on his face, Diabel turned to exit the local pub. "That's all I needed to confirm."

* * *

The sun illuminated the open amphitheater brightly as players started to gather to hear the plan to defeat the level one floor boss. There appeared to be about forty five people altogether, a much larger number than Zuko expected to see as he arrived with Roma at his side. Taking an upper level seat on the rock carved rows, the fire prince sat off to the side, away from any of the other players. Most of the gathered individuals seemed to know one another as several had already formed into groups and were talking animatedly. A figure wearing a solid dark violet-red colored hooded cloak took a seat a few rows below him.

The sound of Diabel clapping loudly as he stood proudly in the center of the theater's half circle stage signaled the start of the meeting. "Okay! Let's get started people!" The few players that had still been milling around took their seats as all attention was directed center stage. "I appreciate you all arriving today on such short notice. My name is Diabel, and I like to consider the job I rolled as Knight." He saluted heartily by smacking his closed fist against his upper chest.

Many of the assembled players laughed at the announcement. "There's no job system in this game!" someone called out. "A knight? You should take this seriously!" shouted another. "Hold up, is this meeting just a joke too then?" asked a third.

Raising both his arms in a calming motion, Diabel regained order amongst his unruly crowd. His face became deadly serious. "Yesterday, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower."

The players who had started to get up to leave immediately sat back down. "Whoa, are you serious?!" demanded the initial heckler.

"Completely," continued the blue haired swordsman. "Any of the other five that were in my party can confirm it. Now we just need to defeat the first floor boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting back in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Everyone present here shares in this duty! Do you all agree?!"

The amassed players looked taken back at the intensity of Diabel's speech. Slowly someone in the crowd started to clap. He was quickly joined by several others as the whispers transitioned into a roaring applause and a barrage of whistling. "Alright then! It looks like everyone is onboard. Let's begin our planning then! First let's divide into parties of six." A black haired swordsman to Zuko's far right made a gasping sound as if he was surprised that the blue haired leader would ask everyone to form up into teams. "An ordinary party has no chance of defeating a floor boss by themselves. We'll need to form a raid group using multiple parties if we want to get this done without anyone dying."

Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko watched as the black haired swordsman look back and forth wildly as he looked for a group to join. Since many of the assembled players had arrived together, most were already seated next to people that they wanted on their teams. The unpicked player locked eyes with the fire prince and the hooded figure seated in front of him. Sliding his way over, the player asked, "You guys get left out, too?"

"I wasn't left out," replied the cloaked female. "I just stayed out of it because everyone seemed to know one another already."

The inquisitive player looked up at Zuko, who answered, "I didn't feel like getting up." Roma just yawned with disinterest as she mirrored her master's attitude.

"Solo players, huh?" deduced the black haired swordsman. "Then how about you both form a party with me?" The hooded female looked over at him reluctantly. Pointing his thumb down at Diabel back on the stage, he added, "You heard the guy down there. He just said that we can't defeat the boss on our own. So how about it? Just for this fight?" The cloaked female nodded once.

Zuko shrugged. "Just try to keep up." The black haired swordsman seemed to raise an eyebrow in amusement at the comment.

Opening his menu, the swordsman ran through the invitation procedures as both Zuko and the hooded female accepted the party request. The fire prince looked up at the top corner of his vision to see two more names and health bars appear underneath his own. One read Kirito and the another, Asuna. Kirito looked back up at him with interest, then at the hooded girl.

"Okay, have you all formed your parties?" started up Diabel again from back on the half circle amphitheater stage. "Then next we'll…"

"Now just hold up a second!" interrupted an angry voice the top of the stands. All eyes looked back to see who had disrupted the meeting. A red spiky haired brute stood in the silhouette of the sun for a moment before he jumped down to the bottom of the stadium style seating. "My name's Kibaou! And I wanna say something before we take on the first floor boss."

Diabel nodded as he took a step back. Kibaou smirked in superiority as he turned to face the crowd. "Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand people who have died so far!" He pointed an accusing finger at the assembled players.

Zuko crossed his arms slowly as he leaned back in his seat and looked down at the outspoken brute with disdain. Even Roma seemed to tense up as the fire prince unwrapped his arms to place a calming hand on her back.

Kirito's eyes narrowed sadly as he looked on; something that did not go unnoticed by the young firebender. Asuna's expression was hidden by her hooded cloak.

"Kibaou," said Diabel as he stepped back up to center stage, "Are you referring to the beta testers?"

"Damn right I am!" exclaimed the worked up brute. "On the day this death game started, those jerks ditched all us beginners and disappeared. They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves so that only they could get stronger! They completely ignored the rest of us; just leaving the normal players to fend for themselves."

Renewing his own anger with as he listened to his own words, Kibaou raised a closed fist to the crowd in frustration. "I'm sure at least someone here was in the beta test! They should get on their knees and apologize, and then they should give up all the items and money they've hoarded away for themselves. Otherwise we can't trust them to protect us as party members, and they shouldn't trust us!"

'_This idiot is breaking up the group before the fight even starts_,' berated Zuko in his head. '_This raid thing is a waste of my time_.' Glancing over at Kirito, the player seemed to be fighting an internal battle at Kibaou's accusations. Just before the black haired swordsman appeared like he was going to say something, another individual beat him to the punch.

"May I speak?" asked a tall, bald pole axe user with a raised hand, as if he was in a classroom.

Getting up, the man was a colossal giant with a goatee and two silver earrings in his left ear. He walked down to the front of the stage slowly as he towered head and shoulders over the suddenly nervous red haired brute. "My name is Agil. Kibaou, tell me if I have this right. You're saying that just because the beta testers didn't take care of them, many of the beginning players died. That the beta testers should take responsibility, apologize, and provide compensation to all those normal players who are still alive. Correct?"

"Y-yeah…" stuttered Kibaou, abruptly without words in the face of a tougher looking individual with a sound counterargument.

Pulling a tiny, leather bound notebook out of his pocket, Agil continued, "You picked up one of these guide books, didn't you? It was provided for free on the trading post."

"Sure I did," replied Kibaou, unsure where the axe user was going with this. "But what does…"

Interrupting the red haired brute, Agil spoke louder for everyone to hear. "It was compiled from information given by many of the beta testers."

Murmurs started to break out amongst the crowd, who had been listening with rapt attention. "What did he say?" "Seriously?" "I need to go pick one of those things up."

Kibaou grimaced. Agil turned back to face the amassed players. "Listen! Everyone had equal access to this information. And even with that, many people still died. I thought the topic of discussion here was what we could learn from their deaths, and how that knowledge could help us to defeat the first floor boss."

'_Talk about a commanding individual_,' mused Zuko as he took a calculating look at Agil. '_With just a few words, he took that little upstart's argument and turned it against him_.'

Kirito breathed a sigh of relief. The tension in the swordsman's stature dissipated.

Agil turned to stare at Kibaou one last time with a look that signaled that this argument was over. With a huff of defeated deflation, the spiky, red haired brute walked off the stage and took a seat in the first row as he crossed his arms and appeared lost in thought. Agil took a seat next to him.

"Alright then," started up Diabel again as he took control of his meeting once more. "I assume there won't be any more distractions?" A couple of players in the crowd nodded. Holding up his own copy of the leather notebook, he continued, "The latest edition of the beta tester approved guide book was just issued a few days ago. It contains information about the first floor boss."

Everyone in the stands took complete interest in this, even Kibaou. The blue haired swordsman opened up to a marked page. "According to the guide, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He is guarded by three minions known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels. His weapons of choice are a large bone axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one enters the red health status, he switches to a curved sword type weapon known as a talwar. His attack patterns change as well when he does this. And finally, each time one of his health bars is depleted, he will spawn three more minions. Therefore, we will need teams to defeat the current set of underlings so that they don't overwhelm us later in the fight. Any questions?"

The majority of players were stunned at the amount of knowledge that was just given prior to the upcoming battle. "Wow…" "Amazing…" "We can't lose…"

Closing the notebook in his hand with arrogance, Diabel announced, "Alright then, that concludes the briefing on strategy. Just let me give some parting comments. Be sure to stock up on health potions. It's going to be a tough fight. Also the party who defeats the boss will get the bonus experience. All money received will be distributed evenly at the end of the battle, and whoever finds or receives an item gets to keep it without any qualms from anyone else. Any objections?" There weren't any from the assembly. "Alright then, we'll leave tomorrow morning at nine. Gather at the fountain square in the center of town. See you all then!"

A few people got up to leave, but most stuck around to talk and socialize with one another. Kibaou approached Diabel back on stage to apologize for his outburst during the strategy meeting as Agil stood nearby. Kirito heard movement next to him and looked to his left to witness both Asuna and Zuko walking up the stands and away from the assembly before they departed in separate directions. As the black haired swordsman got up as well, Kirito failed to notice Diabel watching the makeshift party dismiss themselves from the meeting with an critical eye.

* * *

Later that evening, Zuko found himself at the blacksmith shop as he waited for the blade maker to finish repairing the durability of his weapon. The memory of his old short sword snapping under the stress of battle with monsters was still fresh in his mind. Roma pawed at the tiny flame of a candle flickering on the shop counter playfully as the young kit amused herself in order to pass the time.

The bell of the front door rang as a familiar black haired swordsman wandered in. The two solo players locked eyes for a moment and it was Kirito who broke the silence. "Your name's Zuko isn't it? You're my teammate for tomorrow aren't you?"

As the fire prince continued to lean against the front windowpane of the shop with his arms crossed, he answered, "Just for tomorrow. Once Illfang is defeated, we go our separate ways."

Shrugging, Kirito replied, "Fine with me. I tend to work better by myself anyways." He unclipped the scabbard at his side and placed it on the weapon shop counter next to Roma. The little fox stopped playing with the candle as she stared at the sheathed blade with interest. "Just here to get this thing repaired and possibly upgraded before the big fight."

The blacksmith returned to the front of his shop. Nodding towards Zuko, he said, "Almost done with your request. The coals are heating for the final remolding right now." Picking up the sword Kirito had placed on the counter, the smith asked, "Now what can I do for you?"

"A repair job and if you're able, an upgrade from +4 to +5," responded the black haired swordsman.

Pulling the blade from its scabbard, the blacksmith examined the weapon. It was a long bladed sword with reinforced iron hardened at its core and lined with steel. With a low whistle, the smith stated, "An Anneal Blade. Can't say I've seen a lot of these floating around. You have the materials needed for an upgrade?"

Placing some lumps of iron ore on the counter, along with a few wolf bones, Kirito nodded. "I'll have it ready a little later this evening. For some reason, I've been swamped with repair orders all day long," declared the blacksmith as he gathered the materials.

"I understand." Kirito turned to leave as the blacksmith returned to the hearth in the back of his shop.

"Wait," called out Zuko as the black haired swordsman passed by him. "Where did you get that sword?"

Turning to face the fire prince, Kirito replied, "It was a quest reward from Horunka Village. There's not enough time to run the quest before the boss fight, if that's what's you're asking about."

Shaking his head as he tried to bury the memories from that fateful day before they could return, Zuko answered, "No. It just looked familiar, that's all."

"Familiar? That weapon is only a quest reward on this floor. I haven't come across a blacksmith, player or NPC, who has the skill required to craft it yet." Kirito looked at the fire prince with a calculating eye. "Who do you know that has an Anneal weapon?"

"No one," lied the young firebender a little too quickly. "I just saw a bunch of those types of weapons back in Horunka. The smith wouldn't sell them, so I was curious how you managed to get one."

The black haired swordsman seemed to think for a moment before he accepted the answer. The blade maker chose that instance to return to the shop counter with Zuko's iron sword in hand. "Here you go, fully repaired."

Kirito glanced over at the weapon in interest. "That's a pretty basic iron weapon. You could probably buy something better here. There's a weapon rack of reinforced iron blades over in the corner."

Accepting his short sword from the blacksmith, Zuko turned back to the swordsman. "This weapon is still fine for now."

"Did someone special give you that or something?" joked Kirito. "You really should get something stronger so that you'll be ready for the next floor." As he observed Zuko's impassiveness, he offered another idea. "At least upgrade it. That blade is still at the base level. You just need some ore and Col and you should be able to get at least a few upgraded levels."

Glancing at his weapon for a moment, Zuko dug into his pack. Pulling out one of glowing light stones he collected from the cavern where he had received his gifts from the Painted Lady, he asked, "This is all I have. Will it work?"

Kirito was awestruck. "Those…Those are glimmer rocks. I've been searching for them all over the place; started to figure I would have to wait until the next floor before I could find some. Yeah, those will definitely work."

Placing a glimmer rock and his blade back on the counter, Zuko addressed the blacksmith again. "Use this to upgrade my weapon as well."

"Hey wait!" interrupted Kirito. "Let me trade you for that!"

Zuko pulled out a second rock and placed it on the counter as well. "And use that on this guy's sword as well."

"Of course," commented the blacksmith as he collected the items in front of him and disappeared to the back of the shop.

Rubbing the back of his head, Kirito stepped up next to Zuko as he extended his hand in appreciation. "Wow, thanks for that. How many of those things do you have?"

Shaking the black haired swordsman's hand, the fire prince replied, "Enough. And besides, for the moment, we're working together. If that rock keeps you from getting killed, then there's no reason for me to hang on to it."

"Come on, at least let me get you something to eat for your trouble," prodded Kirito.

Roma looked up at Zuko with hopeful eyes at the promise of a free meal. "Alright, let's get going."

The two solo players walked down a side street away from the fountain square where a large amount of the player base was hanging out and having a small party. It seemed that many of them assumed that their victory tomorrow was already assured.

"Those idiots should be resting up, not getting drunk," griped Zuko as he looked back at the festivities.

"Usually, I'd agree with that, but no one's had anything to celebrate in a while," commented Kirito. "Finding the boss's lair was a much needed boost to everyone's morale and hope."

"Winning would be an even better boost," grumbled Zuko.

Before Kirito could answer, he spied their third party member seating on a stone fence that was set-up around an oak tree in the middle of the side street. Walking around the tree, he noticed that she was chewing on a crunchy bread roll. "Pretty tasty, isn't it?"

She turned to look at him. "May I sit down?" Asuna nodded slightly. As Kirito sat down, she scooted over away from him. However, she failed to notice Zuko taking a seat on her left as she slid next to him. Jumping back to the right in surprise, she spaced herself in the middle of them equally.

Kirito pulled out his own crunchy bread roll as Zuko was already munching on his. Roma carried her roll in her mouth happily as she jumped onto her master's lap.

Awkwardly, Asuna asked, "Do you really think it's good?"

"It better be," noted the fire prince as he chewed. "You don't just offer someone a free meal and then buy them junk."

"Of course it is," answered Kirito as he shot a shrewd look at the fire prince. "I've been eating one of these daily, ever since I arrived at this town."

"Well, at least it's not terrible," continued Zuko as he swallowed his first bite. "Still, there's a place back in the Town of Beginnings that I know that serves even better stuff."

Ignoring the criticism, Kirito pulled out a jar from his pack. "I do change up the flavor every now and then though." He offered the container to the others. "Here try putting some of this on the bread."

"You first," replied the fire prince as he eyed the jar suspiciously. Asuna appeared to be a little apprehensive as well. Sighing, Kirito touched the lid of the jar with his index finger and a little glow appeared on the tip. As he ran his finger down the side of his bread roll, a line of honey cream materialized.

"Cream?" squeaked Asuna in surprise. Roma's eyes grew at the sight of the treat as she touched the top of the jar with her snout and watched as it glowed pale blue. Returning to her meal, she continued to munch away happily on her now honey cream covered feast.

Asuna was next as she spread some on her crunchy bread roll and tried a piece. Instantly, she devoured the rest as she licked her fingers clean.

Before Zuko could reach over to try some, the jar exploded into an array of pixels; its durability depleted. "What?! No fair!"

"It only has three charges," smirked Kirito. "Too bad you were so distrustful. I had offered it to the three of you first."

Grumbling at his misfortune, Zuko tried to take some of the honey cream from Roma's meal. The young fox pulled the bread away as his hand reached for it. "You wait until now to be selective on what we share?" He reached out again and Roma hopped off the stone fence and jumped onto a nearby window frame. "I'll remember this you little trickster!"

"It's a reward for a quest called 'The Heifer Strikes Back' one town behind us," stated Kirito as he watched the fire prince's and his pet's antics. "If you want, I can show you where to get it later."

"I'm not usually a fan of sweet things. I don't actually need it," replied Zuko as he glared at his traitorous pet, who was contently still eating her dinner a safe distance away.

"And I didn't come to this town to eat good food," added Asuna.

"Then why did you come here then? Was it because you saw the message post about the battle tomorrow?" probed Kirito.

The hooded female shook her head. "I came here so that I could still be me." Both Kirito and Zuko looked confused at her answer. "I'd rather stay myself until the very end instead of sitting and rotting away back at some inn in the first town. Even if I get killed by a monster, I don't want to lose to this game, to this world. No matter what."

The fire prince got quiet at this confession as the black haired swordsman tossed the rest of his bread roll into his mouth. "I wouldn't want a party member dying on me. So at the very least, don't die tomorrow," stated the young firebender in a very serious tone.

Getting up immediately, Zuko turned to leave without saying another word as Kirito looked at him strangely. Roma gobbled up the last of her meal and chased after the retreating fire swordsman with haste. Both Asuna and Kirito remained sitting in silence on the stone fence for a while longer.

* * *

The next morning found forty five players milling around in the fountain square waiting to receive marching orders. Zuko, Roma, Kirito, and Asuna stood off in the corner as their tiny group didn't really know anyone else from the assembly.

"It looks like everyone is here!" proclaimed Diabel from the front. "Let me announce the roles of each party. Squad A, led by myself, and Squad B, led by Agil, will form the tanking teams. Squads C, D, and E will consist of our high DPS players. Kibaou! I'll leave the management of those teams to you. As for minion control, Squads F, G, and H will each take a separate minion to completely remove them from the main fight. Is that clear?"

There didn't seem to be any questions, except for Asuna, who leaned towards Kirito and whispered, "What's DPS?"

"Damage per second, it's an abbreviation for players who can dish out large amounts of attack damage quickly," answered the black haired swordsman. The two watched as Diabel walked up to their squad.

"Your team is only half full. Will you be able to handle a single minion on your own?" asked the blue haired leader with concern in his voice. "They will be a lot stronger than most other monsters out on the field."

"I went toe-to-toe with Illfang. I can handle a minion," rebuked Zuko as he crossed his arms.

Kirito raised an eyebrow at this boastful seeming admission. Diabel laughed it off instead. "Of course you did. Just be sure to keep that enthusiasm." The blue haired swordsman returned to the front of the assembly. The players began to march.

As they traveled through the woods, Kirito decided it was time to ask a question he had been holding in for a while. "So how did you get that scar?"

Zuko just continued to keep marching behind the rest of the players as his team brought up the rear. Kirito jogged up next to the fire prince.

"When we opened up those mirrors back on day one, all the avatar designs reset to what people actually look like in real life. So that scar isn't just something you added to your character design. And all the damage we receive here in Aincrad isn't lasting; so you couldn't have actually gotten it fighting here."

"It was a punishment," answered the fire prince simply. "And this discussion is over."

"Geez, touchy much?" commented Kirito as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He glanced down at Roma, who was walking next to her master's side. "Alright then, what about your pet?"

"What about her?" pressed Zuko.

"Well, I can't say I know much about the beast taming skill, but how did you tame her?" Kirito paused for a moment. "Actually, better question, where did you find her? I don't believe I've seen a fox monster anywhere on this floor yet."

Zuko shrugged. "Roma was around when I woke up in this world. She's followed me around ever since."

"You mean you didn't find her, she found you?" asked Kirito with interest.

"I guess you could put it that way," replied the fire prince.

Asuna approached the two from behind. "Sorry to interrupt, but do you all mind if we go over the plan again?"

"Of course," answered the black haired swordsman as he slowed his pace to match the hooded female behind them. "As part of the leftover group, we're going to target the minions."

"I know that part," interrupted Asuna.

"Alright then. When we face the enemy, I'll use a sword skill to knock his weapon up. After that, one of you two can switch in and strike the minion for some heavy damage."

"Switch?" inquired the fire prince.

Kirito looked at the young firebender in surprise. "Is this the first time that you've actually been in a party?"

"First time in a while," replied Zuko. "And that's only because I know that this fight is going to be more complicated than usual."

Kirito paused midstep as the fire prince continued forward. "This is my first party as well," added Asuna as she walked by too. The black haired swordsman's jaw dropped open in shock. The hooded female turned back to look at him as he sighed in defeat.

About half an hour later, the raid party found themselves assembled before the large graphite doors leading to the first floor boss's chamber. The corridor outside appeared just as rundown and decrepit as it had been before. "The axe is gone," muttered Zuko to himself as he examine the back wall it had been lodged in two days ago.

"What did you say?" asked Kirito as he walked up to the fire swordsman.

Turning away from the wall, the fire prince answered, "Nothing of concern." His eyes locked with the blue haired leader in the front of the group. The self-nominated commander had taken notice of the axe's absence as well.

Diabel slammed his long sword into the ground as he stood in front of the boss doors. "Listen up! I only have one thing left to say! Let's win!" The gathered players cheered in anticipation of the coming battle.

Turning around, Diabel placed a single hand on the door handle as the stone slabs opened at his touch. Drawing his shield from his back, the blue haired leader guided the raid party into the dark throne room. At the far end of the chamber, a pair of glowing crimson eyes flashed open and the entire throne room lit up at once.

Leaping from the king's seat, Illfang landed heavily on the main floor as his health gauges charged full. The Kobold Lord shook his gigantic bone axe in anger. Three Ruined Kobold Sentinels materialized into existence as the entire monster group charged the player base with their weapons drawn, calling for blood.

"Commence the attack!" ordered Diabel loudly as he waved his team forward with his long sword pointed directly at the rampaging beasts. With a cry of fury, the players rushed forward to meet the enemy. Kibaou was first to lock sword skills with one of the minions.

Chaos, that was the word to describe it; a completely disorganized mess. For all the planning that Diabel tried to instill within the raid party, as soon as they met with the kobold enemies, all that simple and straightforward preparation went out the window.

"Ack!" cried out a spear user as one of the ruined kobold sentinels landed a solid blow against his breastplate.

"No, don't!" protested an couple of short sword wielders as Illfang drew back and unleashed a brutal horizontal crescent swing with his bone axe to knock several of them back with a single mighty blow.

Zuko parried another swipe from the minion he was facing as he redirected the mace head to the ground. The pommel of his blade flew up to bash the kobold's face with a solid impact. As the sentinel staggered back, Kirito dashed in to slash through the creature's unguarded midsection. The creature's golden chest plate armor broke apart. Taking advantage of the opening, Asuna joined in with a flurry of precise strikes from her rapier. The barrage of blows was too much for the minion to handle as he shattered out of existence.

"Too easy," commented Zuko as he turned to check the rest of the raid party's progress.

Shaking his head, Kirito disagreed. "Not for the rest of the team. We're taking a beating out there."

"Incompetent fools," judged the fire prince. "No one in this place seems to know how to actually fight with a blade. Most aren't even holding the weapon correctly. No wonder they're getting pushed back."

"We still need to help them," countered Kirito as he rushed towards the minion that squad F seemed to be having problems with.

Zuko had other plans. "Roma, follow me."

Looking back, Kirito noticed that only the hooded female on his squad seemed to be keeping up with his charge. "What are you doing?!"

Kibaou raised his sword awkwardly to parry a strike from Illfang as the Kobold Lord dropped his axe to deliver a fully raised overhead strike. Shoving the red haired brute out of the way, Zuko locked weapons with the floor boss once again. "Remember me?"


	8. The Battle for the First Floor

A/N: I'm actually quite satisfied with how this chapter turned out. Tell me what you think. Please Enjoy and Review!

**Breyannia**: It's a little too early to explain how Zuko would return to his world should he manage to complete Lord Death's challenge. He did rush into the game without getting all the rules and guidelines from Lord Death that could answer a lot of those "How?" and "What?" type questions. The fire prince will just have to find out how difficult this test is as the story continues.

* * *

**Chapter 8 – The Battle for the First Floor**

Diabel slammed on his shield heavily with his broadsword in a desperate attempt to draw the attention of his forces. "Listen to my commands! You're all acting like a bunch of cut rate amateurs! Did everyone think the fight was going to be simple?! This is a floor boss damn it! You know the standard roles! People need to stop trying to do their own thing and group up correctly!" shouted the blue haired leader in a rage. This battle was going nothing like he had anticipated it would go. If he didn't get a handle on all the players in the raid party, then their disorganization was going to be the end of them all. "Sword Art Online is the first of its kind! Where we must fight our own battles instead of controlling an avatar third person style! But that doesn't mean that the old stand bys should be tossed out the window! Form up and play your assigned roles correctly! I know that there are veteran MMO players here!" Diabel motioned with his weapon to reassemble the ragtag team. "Squads A, B, and C rally to me! Squads D and E, flank around to either side! Squads F, G, and H, keep those minions off us!"

The echoes of metal clashing against hardened bone rang throughout the throne room as players turned to bear witness to Zuko drawing Illfang into single combat and away from the majority of the raid members. Diabel grit his teeth as he observed the young firebender not only hold his ground, but place some pressure on the previously unchallengeable threat. "Hey you! Pull back! Fighting a floor boss by yourself is suicide!"

In response, Zuko ducked underneath a horizontal axe crescent before he leapt back over the returning lowered backswing with a twist and landed on his feet just out of Illfang's reach. The Kobold Lord roared in frustration and psyched himself up as he let the rage fuel the adrenaline. His crimson eyes flashed brightly and with a bull charge, he disregarded all the other players still within his range and thundered directly at the fire prince as the master swordsman continued to draw the boss away from the masses.

"It's like Illfang is only interested in fighting that scarred swordsman," stated Agil with calm authority as he stood near Diabel, his heavy two handed pole axe in his arms. "Look, the boss is completely ignoring the few lingering players still out on the battlefield. Didn't that guy say something about already fighting with the floor boss before we set out?"

"He was just trying to sound tough earlier and now he's trying to get himself killed," countered Diabel crossly.

Agil gave a low whistle of admiration. "Well I hope he lasts a little bit longer then. If he didn't jump in and pull the boss away when he did, then this little breather we're getting wouldn't have happened. Also his fighting style is definitely inspiring everyone else around here to actually get their own acts together."

Taking his eyes off the fire prince, Diabel glanced around at his assembling forces. The defeated looks in their eyes were already starting to disappear; much more so from the remarkable demonstration they were witnessing than the insulting speech he just gave. With another angry look, he slammed onto his shield with his broadsword again to grab people's attention. "I said rally now! We need to get back into this fight!" Coming out of their stupor, players sluggishly moved to follow the orders that Diabel had given them.

"He's like a one man wrecking crew…" muttered a member of Squad A as his group was slow to form back up near their blue haired leader. The majority of them were still watching in awe as the fire swordsman went toe-to-toe with Illfang. Metal echoed throughout the chamber as an iron short sword clashed against a gigantic bone axe. Each vicious swipe by the Kobold Lord was determined to rend flesh from bone as the young firebender evaded most with a grace not seen by the average player. Those attacks he couldn't dodge were deflected just barely with his weapon. Every so often the steadfast warrior would lash out with his own devastating flurry of strikes.

As Illfang reared back from Zuko's latest attack, one of the four life bars over his head drained empty. Howling in aggravation, the Kobold Lord then let out a loud whistle. Immediately three more minions began to appear within the throne room as they rushed to attack the various spread out players.

In the confusion of the advancing reinforcements, the last of the original set of ruin kobold sentinels managed to break away from squad G while the second wave of minion replacements held the surprised players back. The sentinel charged Zuko from behind, a brutal bone mace raised high. "Watch out behind you!" shouted Asuna in a panicked warning. Illfang's eyes glowed sharply as he saw the combo chance with his minion and swung down an overwhelming haymaker blow that forced the young firebender to block the incoming attack. Pressed down against the powerful weight of the floor boss, Zuko could do nothing to evade the onslaught of the sentinel. None of the other players were close enough to intercept the charge in time, despite Agil racing desperately to do so.

As time seemed to slow for all the players, a crimson streak sprinted across their field of view and collided squarely with the sentinel moments before it reached the scarred swordsman. The ruin kobold crashed into a nearby stone pillar that groaned in protest at the impact before crumbling and burying the already low hit point remaining sentinel within large stone debris. A flash of polygons from underneath the rocks signaled the minion's defeat.

With a cry of strength, Zuko braced harder under the overbearing weight and redirected the blow to the side. A tremor erupted throughout the chamber as Illfang's axe sank deeply into the floor with a loud crash; stone shrapnel exploding all over. Without pausing, Zuko yelled out in fury as he continued his spin and sliced clean up and through the Kobold Lord; flinging the first floor boss back a considerable distance while the bone axe remained buried in the ground. Dropping to one knee, the fire prince breathed sharply in exhaustion as he leaned on his sword in an effort to remain upright. Roma stood protectively at his side, crouched low and growling threatenly at the crumpled heap of the Kobold Lord resting several yards away. The health bar hovering over his head was flashing brightly in the red as it warned of how dangerously close the young firebender was to dying.

"No way…" whispered Kirito in shock. Not even in the beta test had he ever seen anyone fight a boss level monster that evenly in combat for as long as the scarred swordsman just had. That skilled player had just depleted an entire health bar on the boss by himself. "I don't even think I could manage something like by myself that right now. Maybe with a couple more levels…Just how strong is this guy?"

An ear-piercing roar echoed throughout the chamber as Illfang rose back to his feet with a murderous expression. One of the ruin kobold sentinels rushed to its master's side carrying a replacement bone axe. With another howl that promised a painful end, the Kobold Lord charged blindly at the young fire prince in a fury, grabbing the offered weapon along the way. Zuko struggled to rise once again but his legs refused to respond as he slumped back down to a single knee. Roma growled furiously in challenge as the little fox stood defiantly between the rampaging giant and her exhausted master.

Staring the floor boss down, Zuko watched the creature draw ever closer. A wall of five players suddenly threw themselves in the path of the oncoming storm; their combination of kite and heater shields raised high. "Hold the line!" demanded Diabel, as he remained tucked safely away in the back rows of players, shouting orders and commands. The tanking squad braced themselves as the gigantic bone axe descended upon them. Sparks flew as the weapon impacted their shields and despite it being five vs. one, the defending players found themselves being forced back several steps from the force of the strike. "Now!" shouted the blue haired leader as Illfang recoiled from his attack.

"Take this you bastard!" yelled Kibaou as his squads leapt at Illfang from both the left and right sides and lashed out with a series of undisciplined strikes. As the floor boss recovered and countered, Kibaou's teams had already retreated back behind the shields of the frontline tank squad. "Again!" urged the blue haired leader as the Kobold Lord recoiled a second time. "We can do this! The boss isn't invincible! You all saw how a reckless single player managed to fight him solo! Are you all really so weak that even as a group you can't do the same?!"

"Drink this," urged Asuna as she knelt next to the wounded fire swordsman and produced a recovery potion from behind her cloak. "Are you okay?" she pressed as Zuko took the poultice, popped off the cork, and took a long drink. Kirito approached the two, sword raised defensively as he watched for any more of the minions to charge the recuperating player. The fighters of Squad F now had their hands full attempting to manage two sentinels at once while Squad H recovered.

Finishing the potion, Zuko's health bar still hovered in the yellow. This time pulling a health vial from a pouch on his own tunic, the fire prince watched his health return to the vigorous green zone. "Just perfect," he grunted in reply to the hooded female's question. After a moment of hesitation, he added, "Thank you for the potion." Picking back up his sword, he prepared to rush the Kobold Lord a second time. A hand on his shoulder gave him pause.

"Wait," protested Kirito as he pointed with his sword at the intense combat taking place between the brave players and the vicious Kobold Lord. "Look, Diabel and the others are slowly grinding down the floor boss correctly now. Let them take it from here. Rest for a moment, otherwise you may not survive a second encounter with Illfang. And besides, our job is to keep the minions under control; otherwise we could find ourselves overwhelmed. It's not a glamorous job, but someone needs to do it."

Shrugging off the hand on his shoulder, Zuko continued his stride towards the conflict. "That was my second encounter with him; this round makes three. And I don't have the time to waste with small fry," he retorted as he broke into a run, Roma following closely. Kirito and Asuna were left standing with a stunned expression on their faces.

"Three? …Wait, so he was one of the ones who found the boss's chamber?! And he attempted to bring him down by himself already?! This guy is way too impulsive!" pieced together Kirito.

Asuna turned to the black haired swordsman. "What are you talking about? When did he fight Illfang before?"

Kirito watched as Zuko drew closer to the boss battle. "Remember how Diabel had laughed off Zuko's comment about going toe-to-toe with Illfang before we set out? I had thought that he just had a bad sense of humor. I didn't expect it to actually be true."

"That's really reckless, isn't it? I thought the floor bosses were supposed to be the strongest monsters on each floor. It should be completely impossible to defeat one by yourself, shouldn't it?" Asuna asked in disbelief.

Kirito shook his head. "Well, yes and no. Floor bosses are usually one of the strongest obstacles on each floor, but sometimes hidden dungeon bosses can be equally, if not more challenging. Also, unlike the normal mobs out in the fields, bosses have a high predetermined level for all their stats; usually some amount way higher than the experience available on the boss's current floor can boost a player to match by himself. Though with all the level grinding that people have had time to do in the last month, Zuko may have been able raise his level high enough to match.

Taking a breath, he continued, "Additionally, depending on the number of players challenging it at a time, the boss monster's stats are scaled up to keep the fight demanding and tough. That way players can't just overwhelm the boss with numbers like they used too in first generation MMOs. With Diabel's forces gathered around Illfang right now, he's actually stronger stat-wise now than when Zuko drew him away from everyone. So theoretically, a solo player could fight a boss level monster one-on-one should he manage to be a high enough level or skilled enough with a sword; however, in this death game someone would have to be suicidal to even try. The safest method would be to analyze the boss each time with a scouting party, observe its weaknesses, fall back and plan, and then return with a strategy."

Asuna gripped her sword tighter as she grimaced. "His way of fighting, it's exactly how I carried myself when I first started out on my own. I figured I would just keep fighting until I eventually wore myself out and died. But this one girl with whisker marks on her face saved me from being overwhelmed in some forest before she scolded me for being stupid. That girl told me to wise up and then gave me a guidebook on how to get stronger as a player. She told me that fighting recklessly wouldn't help me or anyone else and for that I'm thankful. She saved me from getting myself killed."

A second health bar depleted from Illfang's gauge as three more minions materialized into existence. Asuna glared at them determinedly. "I won't let him get himself killed. I'll knock some sense into him; just like that whisker girl knocked some sense into me!" She charged the third set ruin kobold sentinel reinforcements with a cry of indignation as members from Squads F and G continued to fight the quickly fading second wave of sentinels.

"Whiskers, huh?" smirked Kirito knowingly. He hefted his own blade onto his shoulder. "Sounds like Argo's work. I wonder how much she charged Asuna for one of her special guidebook editions?" Turning to observe the boss fight again, he saw Zuko use a tanking player whose health was in the yellow zone as a springboard to leap over the Kobold Lord while slashing out with reckless abandon. Furious, Illfang turned away from the line of tankers and took a wild swing at the young fire prince, who twisted gracefully out of the way as he finished his jump. "No sense of teamwork at all…" he sighed before reinforcing Asuna against the sentinels she had singled out.

"Hey you idiot!" shouted Kibaou angrily. "You just redirected the boss's aggro. I thought you were supposed to be good you noob! Quit showing off and messing up our system!"

"If that adrenaline junkie wants to go and get himself killed, then at least he'll make a good breather for the rest of us," stated Diabel as he took a quick drink of a health potion. Every member of the tanking teams followed his lead and took advantage of the brief respite to restore their hit points.

Roma rammed directly into the back of Illfang's head and raked violently with her claws before sinking her teeth into the beast's exposed neck. Screaming in pain, the Kobold Lord thrashed about in an effort to dislodge its unwelcomed parasite. Landing in a crouch, Zuko wasted no time spinning half circle to bury his blade deep into the bulging stomach of Illfang with a determined shout. An unseen backhand with the boss's shield immediately smashed against the fire prince's face and propelled the scarred swordsman far across the chamber. Hitting the unforgiving ground, Zuko skipped across the stone like a pebble across the surface of a lake several times before eventually coming to an uncontrollable roll and impacting the previously destroyed stone pillar. The wind completely knocked out of him, the young fire bender coughed out loudly, gasping for air.

With another roar of fury, Illfang bellowed with rage as he pulled Zuko's sword from his stomach before drawing back and throwing the blade with tremendous might directly at the stunned player. The fire prince cried out in anguish as the blade embedded itself deeply into his left shoulder, pinning him in sitting position with his back against a large piece of rubble. Roma released her hold on Illfang's neck after seeing her master in jeopardy and used the giant kobold as a kickstand to launch herself towards the downed firebender.

"See! That's what you get for being cocky you novice!" taunted Kibaou with a smirk as he jeered at the fallen warrior. "Only idiots charge in by themselves!"

"Enough Kibaou!" scolded Diabel as his tanking squad took back up positions around Illfang as the floor boss started swinging its bone axe boisterously around in wide circles, psyching itself back up. As much as he held quite the disdain for the young firebender, if the reckless player perished, then the morale of the raid party would surely plummet. "Squad H! Go check on Mr. Hero! Squads F and G! Pick up the extra minions! Squad B! Be ready to switch in for Squad A in about thirty seconds! Squad C! You take the first DPS strike! Squad D, follow up with the second! Squad E, continue to provide support with your lances to keep the boss off-balance! We're more than halfway there people! Let's finish this!"

Racing over, Kirito slid onto his back next to the slumped over form of Zuko as he gripped the hilt of the sword which was still draining the fire prince's hit points. Planting his feet against the flat of debris wall, the black haired swordsman pulled with all his might and grunted loudly in exertion as he struggled to dislodge the deeply buried blade. Roma gripped the cuff of Kirito's shirt as well as the little fox attempted to help him pull. With one final good heave, the blade was wrenched free and Kirito tossed it aside. Zuko's hit points were just barely still visible in his nearly empty life bar.

"Made it…" breathed out Kirito in relief as he collapsed backwards onto the ground. "You're really lucky you know that?"

"Not… lucky…" spat out Zuko somehow as he tried to catch his breath again. "I told… told her to quit… interfering with my life, that… damn witch."

Kirito raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking…Hey!" he protested as Asuna dug into a pouch at his side and pulled out a recovery potion. "Those aren't cheap you know!"

Asuna glared at him. "I'm out of recovery items and he's almost dead!" She forced the poultice down Zuko's throat as his hit point gauge barely rose out of the red zone and into the yellow. "You're done fighting, you hear me! Let Diabel and everyone else finish the battle from here." Zuko attempted to stand once more, but Asuna pushed him back down. "I said you're done. If you want to keep fighting, then you're going to have to go through me first."

Zuko's right arm went to his side, but his eyes widened as he realized his sword was lying several feet away. "Tsk," he managed as he turned his head to the side. Asuna grinned triumphantly. Roma jumped into the fire prince's lap and began licking his face affectionately as Zuko brushed his hand down the fox's back absentmindedly. Asuna fought hard inwardly to remain upset at the reckless player as she took in the touching scene.

"You're obviously not a normal player," noted Kirito as he stood back up and leaned against the rubble to watch the ongoing boss fight. "But I also don't remember seeing anyone like you during the beta test. Something tells me that you would have been pretty memorable if you had been part of it as well. Not to mention the fact that I haven't seen you use a single sword skill yet."

Zuko watched the continuing struggle between Diabel's forces and the Kobold Lord in front of him carefully. The blue haired leader's Squad A had just switched back into the combat zone to replace Squad B. Some of the main attacking players had been knocked back, but their spots were quickly filled by the lance users. "If you're talking about those flashy techniques, I don't need them. They aren't natural and just disrupt my own sword style."

"But they are designed to be part of the normal attack patterns for players!" protested Kirito. "By not using them, you're just crippling your own damage output."

"How about you just fight as you see fit and leave me alone to do things my way," rebuffed the fire prince grumpily. "I've been doing just fine on my own."

"Except for the part where Illfang slapped you across the room like a ragdoll and stuck you with your own sword," shot back Kirito with a slight temper entering his own voice.

"I didn't ask for your help you know," snarled Zuko as he glared at the black haired swordsman. "I would have managed on my own somehow."

"What are you talking about?!" cried out Kirito with an exasperated sigh. "If it weren't for me pulling out that sword from your shoulder at the last second you'd be dead right now and I wouldn't be arguing with a thankless jerk!"

Both players were glaring daggers at each other at the end of their little tirade before both received a smack to the back of their respective heads. Outbursts of "Ouch!" and "That's hurt!" came from both of the boys as Asuna stared them down angrily. "That's enough both of you!" She pointed directly at Zuko with her rapier. "You say thank you right now!" Her blade tip shifted over to Kirito. "And you say you're welcome!" When both boys failed to comply, she smiled widely with a menacing sweetness as her rapier started to glow bright pink, signaling the powering up of a sword skill.

Kirito gulped and looked at Zuko expectantly, the latter of which just shrugged. "And what do you think you're going to do? You just spent the time and resources healing me." A large piece of stony debris to the right of the fire prince's head exploded as Asuna thrusted her rapier straight through it. He looked back up at her face, which still held a frighteningly sweet smile. "Fine, fine, thank you helping me out, the both of you," he relented.

"You're welcome," returned Asuna before she glared darkly at Kirito, who gulped nervously a second time before responding in kind. "That's better," she finished matter-of-factly.

"Why is it where ever I am, I always end up around crazy strong girls?" Zuko whispered to Roma. The little kit simply returned a foxy grin and climbed on top of the fire prince's head. Zuko rolled his eyes in annoyance.

The sound of the fourth and final wave of ruin kobold sentinels spawning into existence drew their attention back to the fight. The third life bar on Illfang's health gauge had just been cleared. The second wave of sentinel reinforcements had been dealt with, along with one from the third wave. With five minions now on the field, the exhausted members of Squads F and G were too scattered to handle them all. "Squad H! Get back to fighting otherwise a lot of people are going to die!" demanded Diabel as he pulled his attention away from the main fight.

Handing Zuko his sword, Kirito stressed to him, "We need to get back in there."

Asuna intercepted the offered weapon. "I meant it when I said that you're done fighting. You're too worked up right now. We'll help them out, you rest! And besides, we're too low on recovery items to keep healing you all the time."

Struggling to get back to his feet, Zuko snapped back with, "Give me my sword! Or do you not care about all the other players here as well?! I don't have time to argue!" Taking the blade from Asuna's grip, Kirito tossed it back to the fire prince. "Thank you," replied the firebender as he ran for the closest minion.

Asuna shot the blacked haired swordsman a cross look from under her cloaked hood. Kirito grinned as he ran after Zuko. "What? I like his fighting spirit. It's refreshing."

Roma disrupted the swing of a kobold sentinel as the monster raised its mace high to crack open the helm of Squad G member. Clawing her way around the sentinel, the little kit was the essence of a speed as she darted around; too fast for the creature to hit her with his slow moving mace. She continued to leap in to nip and tear into the exposed weak points in between the armor plates of the kobold.

Another ruin kobold sentinel was pulled from fighting the members of Squad G to help out its buddy. However, even with two of them swinging their heavy bone maces around, neither could manage to land a blow on the little speed demon. Roma flashed around biting and clawing as both her enemies' health gauges steadily drained down. Working in tandem, the two ruin kobold sentinels were slowly cornering the little kit near the side wall despite the damage they were taking from the untouchable trickster.

Before the minions could spring a trap of their own, Kirito and Zuko both reached the skirmish at the same time. With their backs exposed, the two sentinels never saw their end coming as they both shattered into pixels simultaneously. "That's two down," noted the fire prince as he panted heavily to catch his breath from the exhausting sprint.

Kirito gave Roma a calculating look. "Your pet was doing a great job on her own. Even without our help, it looked like she was in control of the fight the whole time."

The little kit beamed at the praise. "Thanks for the assist," greeted a member of Squad G as he approached. "We were hurting there for a minute."

Before either of them could respond, Illfang roared from the far end of the throne room. His final life bar had just entered the yellow state at two thirds full. With an unexpected charge, he powered his way through the line of tanking players and closed in on his initial axe, still buried within the solid stone floor. Dropping his shield as he ran, Illfang's left hand gripped the handle stock and used the entrenched weapon to anchor his pivot as he pulled the weapon free. A large chuck of debris tore away from the site and crashed into several side pillars, leveling them all. With two bone axes gripped tightly now, Illfang howled in challenge.

"I don't remember hearing anything about him being able to do that!" shouted the member of Squad G who was standing near Kirito and Zuko.

"Dual wielding from a boss level monster? Kayaba Akihiko is really setting the bar high on the very first boss fight. Just our rotten luck," grumbled Kirito.

Zuko started to march towards the boss. "What do you think you're doing?" demanded Asuna as she reached her party members. "I'll allow minions, but the boss is off limits."

"This is my fight," replied Zuko. "If you say that this kind of tactic by the boss is bad luck on our part, then I have to fight. I told her to quit interfering."

"Told who? What are you talking about?" questioned Kirito as he followed the fire prince. Looking over his shoulder, he asked the member of Squad G, "Can you all help Squad F finish up the last few minions?" Nodding, the player and his team went to reinforce the other group.

Asuna and Kirito matched Zuko's steps. "Back off," the fire prince warned.

"You almost ended up a bloody smear on the ground the last time you tried to fight him by yourself," countered Kirito. "We do this together."

"And you obviously don't want to listen to me," added Asuna. "So I'm not going to listen to you either."

Roma broke into a run as she sprinted ahead. "Just don't get in my way," grumbled the fire prince.

The line was broken. With two enormous bone axes whipping back and forth, Illfang was a whirlwind of devastation as he marched forward uncontested. "Squad A fall back! Squad B buy us as much time as you can!" screamed Diabel as he sought to regain some control over his forces. Many were in the red zone and barely able to move. Things were not going well. Squad B's overall health wasn't much higher.

"No way man!" argued a player with a battered heater shield. "I ain't getting in front of that monster again!"

Diabel grabbed the player by the cuff of his chainmail. "You're a tanker! That's your damn job!"

"And you called yourself a damn knight back at the strategy meeting! You go take a couple of hits!" shouted back the heater shield player.

"He's coming this way!" shrieked a panicked lance wielder as Illfang charged once more. As the Kobold Lord rushed forward with a powered up axe skill, Agil met the beast with an axe skill of his own. The first blow canceled out, Illfang was quick to swing down his second hatchet. Agil's eyes went wide with surprise as he braced himself to be cut in half.

The loud clang of metal slamming against bone echoed as Kirito parried the subsequent swing with a charged sword skill. Off balance at the sudden appearance of player reinforcements, Illfang was unprepared to be broadsided with a flurry of blows from both Zuko and Asuna working in conjunction with one another. Bringing one of his weapons down in front of his side to block what he could, Illfang hopped back to distance himself from the barrage.

Roma appeared on the flat edge of Illfang's raised bone axe. Eyes wide at the unexpected threat, the Kobold Lord was not ready for the tackle of fur that impacted his forehead nor the cross cut of claws that raked a glowing red x-shaped mark across his rough features. Dropping one of his axes for a moment, he made a vain attempt to grab the speed demon darting around him like an annoying pest. Roma retreated back to her master's side after she finished her attack.

"Thanks for the help," grinned Agil as he nodded to Kirito.

Before the black haired swordsman could reply, Illfang roared as he began to spin faster and faster, both his axes held out wide. A sharp spinning tornado of ferocity began to form as the first floor boss approached the struggling players, picking up speed as he went.

"Over here!" shouted Zuko as Kirito looked back at the fire prince. He had his hands cupped together. "I'll boost you up!"

Unsure of the tactic for a moment, Kirito hesitated. "Now!" demanded the fire prince; the Kobold Lord drawing closer every second that passed. The beast would be upon them soon. As the black haired swordsman stepped onto Zuko's cupped hands, the young firebender heaved him high into the air.

Without anytime to move out of the way, Zuko instead braced his weapon in front of himself to block the raging cyclone of strikes. The second their weapons touched, the fire prince was thrown through the air and to the far side of the chamber from the force of the attack; his precious iron short sword shattering into multiple pieces under the stress.

Backflipping in the air, Kirito rained down on top of the out of control floor boss; splintering the kobold's helm in two and completely halting Illfang's momentum. Stumbling backwards, the first floor boss's health gauge dropped to about one third of his fourth and last remaining health bar. Snarling, he made a show of throwing both of his axes away as he placed his right hand behind his back to grasp the hilt of the weapon sheathed on his backside.

"The boss is almost defeated," noted Kirito with a serious expression. "This is the part where he gets enraged and transitions to a talwar. His strength will increase, but it if we can block or evade his initial draw, then he should be simple to defeat. The talwar is best used for sword drawing techniques, not prolonged combat."

"Stand back!" shouted Diabel as he charged to the front of the line. "I'll handle it from here!"

"What is he thinking?" commented Kirito. "The plan was to surround the boss with the entire group when we reached this stage." He scanned the area for his teammate Zuko, who was still lying unmoving at the far end of the throne room with Roma nuzzling his side. With the boss about to strike again, there was no time to go and check on him. Looking back, Kirito caught a smirk on Diabel's face as the blue haired leader shot him a sideways glance and everything suddenly clicked together in his head.

Diabel reached the front of the group and readied his best sword skill to finish off the floor boss as the creature drew its weapon. Illfang's eyes gleamed as it pulled out a meter and a half long blade from its back sheath. "No, no, no!" shot out Kirito in a panic. "That's not a talwar! It's a nodachi! This isn't really like the beta test at all!" It was too late to warn Diabel, but he had to try. "No! Jump back as fast as you can!" However, Diabel was too committed to his charge to hear the warning. Kibaou, on the other hand, looked back at Kirito with a confused expression.

With a backflip, Illfang leapt high against one of the stone pillars in his chamber before pushing off of it and jumping quickly among several others. The floor boss came crashing down on the bewildered and off-balanced self-proclaimed knight, delivering a brutal cross slash across the unsuspecting player's chest. Diabel cried out in pain as he lost his grip on both his weapon and shield; however, Illfang wasn't done with him yet. Gripping his nodachi with both monstrous hands, the Kobold Lord lunged directly at the wounded leader and delivered a second cross slash to complete its four hit combo. The blue haired leader landed in a crumpled heap several yards away.

"Diabel!" shouted Kibaou in alarm as Illfang impacted the ground behind the remaining players and roared loudly in challenge directly at their frightened faces. Kibaou and several of the other closest players froze in fear as they were covered in the saliva of boss's howling maw. Some of the braver members of the team attempted to close ranks once more as they prepared to defend themselves.

Kirito was already racing to where their blue haired leader had fallen. "Diabel!" The black haired swordsman knelt down next to the beat up player and propped him up as he watched Diabel's hit point gauge fading fast. "Geez, why did you try to finish him alone? You saw how well that worked out for Zuko. I thought you were supposed to be smarter, acting as the leader and all." Kirito quickly fished out a health vial. "Here, it's my last one. Take it."

Diabel pushed the health vial away and shook his head. "It's too late for me and you know it. The boss got me with a critical strike combo. That health potion won't be able to restore enough hit points; don't waste it." He coughed and Kirito's face fell. He knew that Diabel wasn't just trying to act tough. There was nothing he could do; not with his current set of items and gear. "You…you were in the beta test. You know what I was trying to do."

Kirito nodded slightly. "The last strike rare bonus item. You were a beta tester as well, weren't you?"

Diabel smiled grimly as he looked out at the desperate fight between the disorganized players and the enraged Kobold Lord. "Please...defeat…defeat the boss, for everyone." Diabel started glowing. "And tell…tell Sasha at the orphanage…I really was the worst boyfriend…" With that, Diabel burst into an array of flickering lights.

Kirito remained kneeling, stunned, as he stared at the now empty space in front of him. '_Diabel…you were wrong. We may have both been beta testers, but we were nothing alike. When this death game started, the only thing I could think about was surviving; just making sure that I kept on living. But you were different. You never abandoned the other players. You may have not been the best at motivating people but you led this raid brilliantly. You tried to do what I could not_.' He stood up and turned resolutely. Many of the other players had been pushed back. Without a leader giving them instructions, they were lost and Illfang was having a field day. Most players were either in the red zone or just bordering it. Those still in the yellow were trying desperately to cover the retreat of the most wounded. Some players, who had been close enough to see Diabel die, froze up completely as they dropped their weapons to the floor. If something didn't happen quick, then the death toll was going to rise swiftly from just the blue haired leader falling in battle.

"This is it man! Game over man! Game over! What the heck are we going to do now?! What are we going to do?!" wailed one of the weaker-hearted players as he fell to his knees. Kibaou had been knocked onto his stomach and had been watching wide eyed as Diabel became nothing more than a handful of pixels. The red spiky haired brute punched the ground hard as he cursed, "Damn it!"

Kirito stared down Illfang heroically. The cloaked Asuna appeared at his side. "I'll go too." Nodding in thanks, the black haired swordsman took off at a sprint. "We'll do it just like we did when we fought the sentinels!"

Illfang had just finished knocking several players back with a brutal haymaker of a swing as he took notice of the two individuals rushing him. His eyes glowed menacingly as he readied a sword skill.

With a cry of determination, Kirito powered up his own sword skill and parried the incoming strike. As both player and creature recoiled from the canceled out skills, he commanded "Switch!"

The hooded girl darted out from behind him, her rapier glowing pink with her own charged sword skill. With little warning though, Illfang's eyes sparked to life as he instantly recovered and locked his stance. "Asuna!" screamed Kirito with all the urgency he could muster.

Gasping at the change in her opponent's response time, Asuna narrowly twisted out of the way of Illfang's vertical crescent swipe; a swing that promised a painful end had it connected. Her faded violet-red cloak, however, wasn't as lucky. Kirito watched, stunned, as Asuna's eyes narrowed resolutely amidst the floating pieces of fabric scrap. With a cry of righteous indignation, the red haired beauty powered up a second skill and thrusted her rapier deeply into Illfang's exposed side. The Kobold Lord flew backwards several yards from the piercing blow. '_She's amazing_,' thought Kirito, dumbstruck as he watched the glowing sparkles of her sword skill fade away.

A roar brought him back to his senses. Pushing himself up, he shouted, "Watch out! He's coming back!" Kirito rushed to block the first blow as he sidestepped the second and barely managed to bring his sword around to parry a third. '_This is intense! How the heck did Zuko manage to fight this guy one-on-one for so long?!_' He blocked a fourth strike as Illfang pressed hard with all his weight into the blow. Kirito could feel himself being pushed backwards as his feet slid on the smooth ground. The Kobold Lord howled straight at Kirito's face between their interlocked swords revealing several razor sharp teeth that he used in an effort to rip off the black haired swordsman's head. As Kirito twisted out of the way, Asuna jumped in to deliver another piercing stab of her rapier. Growling in pain, Illfang reared back for a fifth strike, his sword glowing white. Attempting to block with his own sword skill, Kirito parried too early as his skill flew harmlessly in front of Illfang's blade. "Not good!" The Kobold Lord's skill landed dead center on the black haired swordsman's chest and threw him backwards. Kirito crashed into Asuna as the pair both toppled to the ground in a twisted heap.

Kirito's health bar receded down to about fifty percent as Asuna watched Illfang raise its blade mercilessly to finish the job. Weakly she lifted her rapier in defense, but even she knew that it wouldn't do anything to block the weight of floor boss's nodachi.

A grunt of strength echoed behind her as she felt the wind of a weapon swing rush over her head. A mighty double-sided axe impacted Illfang's nodachi as Agil followed through with a powerful two handed swing. "Don't forget about us!" he bellowed in fury at the Kobold Lord. Several members of the attacking team dashed forward with determination and courage as they leapt at the floor boss to deliver their sword skills. Agil turned to the two downed players, "We'll hold him off until you two recover, hurry!"

Kirito struggled to talk as he gathered his breath. "You're that guy that I saved…"

"We'll talk later!" interrupted Agil as he moved to reinforce the brave players attempting to hold off Illfang. The Kobold Lord weathered several of their blows before he lashed out with a single strike, knocking all of his opposition off their feet. The beast leapt high into the sky to come crashing down with a finishing blow.

Kirito attempted to stand but only managed to stumble back down. "No! I won't make it in time!" He tried to rise again as he watched Illfang fall faster and faster at the knocked down players; players that were about to take a blow meant for him. "Damn it!"

A shadow appeared behind Illfang halfway through his drop. "Too slow!" With a spinning slash, Zuko sliced cleanly through the Kobold Lord's side as the beast was thrown off his impact course to instead crash head first into his throne. The fire prince landed next to Agil as he offered a hand to pull the man back up.

"Thanks for the save, guess I still owe you guys one," joked the heavy axe user as he returned to his feet.

"Are you okay?" asked Kirito as he stood next to the fire prince. "I saw your weapon break. How did you…?

Zuko tossed his pearl handled Earth Kingdom dagger in the air lightly to let it spin casually one time before he caught it back in his hand with a reverse grip. "Roma pilfered a health potion from some player here for me. Let's finish this."

"Sounds like a plan!" shouted Kirito as he rushed towards the disoriented floor boss. "On me!" Both Asuna and Zuko fell into step behind him as the trio lunged forward with reckless abandon. Illfang was just barely beginning to rise once more and attempted to ready a sword skill to defend himself; however, Kirito parried it immediately as Asuna dashed forward to disarm the Kobold Lord with a piercing thrust of her rapier against his sword arm. The nodachi flew from the floor boss's hand as Zuko followed up with a deadly series of quick cuts. With a deafening cry of fury, Kirito dug his blade deep into Illfang's stomach, reversed his main grip while grabbing the hilt with his other hand as well, and pulled the steel blade clean up and through the beast's body.

Illfang flew up roaring in pain as the final strike on his gigantic body glowed bright blue. The Kobold Lord's entire body then began to sparkle in white light as he grew fainter and fainter. The process ended with the whole chamber flashing a brilliant white as a familiar set of pixels floated in the space which the floor boss had once occupied. The word 'Congratulations!' shined intensely overhead in the room.

Everyone was speechless for several moments until someone in the crowd shouted out, "We…We did it!" Breaking out of their stupor, everyone began celebrating and cheering loudly. Swords were raised high into the air and morale had suddenly spiked as reward screens appeared in front of all the players granting them large amounts of experience and Col. Many players leveled up instantly and those that didn't were really close to the next level from the experience boost. The cheering redoubled.

Kirito was hunched over on one knee breathing heavily as he slowly raised his head to see his own reward screen. It read, 'Congratulations! You got the last attacking bonus item!' then it opened to reveal a 'Cloak of Midnight.'

"Good work," congratulated Asuna from behind him. Kirito turned to see both the red haired swordswoman and the heavy axe wielder, Agil.

"That was some mighty fine swordsmanship," praised Agil as he slapped Kirito on the back with a mighty blow. "Congratulations, this victory belongs to you."

Kirito shook his head. "No, it wasn't me. The one who should get the credit is…" The cheering of the amassed players interrupted him as they applauded the one who rallied them when they were at their weakest in battle.

"Stop celebrating!" demanded Kibaou in anger from behind all the grouped up players. "This prick doesn't deserve it! He's the reason that Diabel died! He knew all about the boss's weapon! He knew that it was different! And he didn't bother to tell us until it was too late! He's a beta tester! And I bet he's not the only one here!"

As Kibaou's words sank into the gathered players, stares and looks of distrust quickly began circulating amongst everyone. "All beta testers are the same! They just want all best stuff for themselves and they'll use us normal players as cannon fodder to do so! We should get rid of them first! Before they have the chance to hurt any of us!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Just calm down for a minute!" attempted Agil as he tried to appeal to the cooler heads in the large group. "That's not true and you know it. Not everyone is out to get you."

"He's right," agreed Asuna from his side. "Remember that scarred swordsman from earlier? He just charged straight in from the start and helped everyone gain the confidence to fight!"

"He's probably a beta tester too!" countered Kibaou loudly as he continued to stir up the crowd. "That's the only explanation that makes sense! How else could he have fought so well against Illfang by himself?! He must have already known the boss's attack patterns! Where is that reckless idiot? Let's finish him off right now!"

At this all the players, including Kirito, Asuna, and Agil, noticed for the first time that Zuko wasn't anywhere near them. "There he is!" pointed out a lance wielder with his weapon. The young fire prince was just nearing the steps leading up to the next floor. "He's trying to get ahead of all of us again!"

Zuko spared a sideways glance at Kibaou and his growing followers as he started to climb up the twisting steps. The outspoken spiky haired player gulped nervously at the cold stare the scarred swordsman leveled in his group's direction. The little fox that always followed the firebender around hopped onto the player's shoulder and Zuko continued climbing without saying a word.

A haunting laugher broke through the silence of the chamber. All eyes turned immediately to see Kirito hunched over and trembling over his reward screen with one hand covering his face. "A beta tester?" Slowly the black haired swordsman stood up to turn and face the crowd of players. "I really wish you wouldn't compare us to those losers."

"What?!" protested a sword user in the group of players, most likely a beta tester himself.

Kirito smirked as he leisurely strolled towards the crowd. "Out of the thousand of beta testers, most were just beginners who didn't even know how to level up; constantly getting themselves and others killed as they tried to figure out what they were doing." He laughed cruelly again. "Heck, you guys are better than most of them." He paused in his pace, jet black hair covering his eyes. "But I'm not like them. And neither is that guy who just walked off. We made it higher than anyone else during the beta test." Raising his head and placing a hand on his hip, Kirito smirked as he continued, "The reason why I knew the boss's skills is because I fought monsters with katana skills stronger than Illfang's on floors far above where we are now. I know a lot know too; far more than any information broker." He fought back a shiver that threatened to run down his spine. '_Crud, hope that line doesn't get back to Argo…_'

"What?" muttered Kibaou, stunned. "That's…that's way worse than any beta tester! That's cheating! You're a no good, lousy cheater!" The red spiky haired brute was shaking in anger as he pointed an accusing finger at Kirito. The accused simply turned away from the heated players with a grin on his face as he heard cries of "Yeah, that's right! A cheater! A beta tester and a cheater! A beater!"

Asuna was standing nervously next to Kirito as she watched the crowd's opinion of the person they were just cheering on mere moments ago change quickly to that of a lynch mob. "A beater, huh? I like it." He opened his inventory with a casual swipe of his hand and motioned down to his newest item. Clicking it, an obsidian colored cloak covered his shoulders, dressing the swordsman in all black and giving him a dark appearance. "Call me that from now on. And quit confusing me with all those other beta testers. It's humiliating to be clumped together with all those rejects." He began to walk off towards the steps that Zuko had already climbed. "See ya." A speechless group of players remained standing in his wake.

Kirito paused on the steps to glance back at Asuna. "Back during the battle, you called me by my name," she stated matter-of-factly.

The black haired swordsman shrugged. "Sorry for just using your first name. I apologize if I got the pronunciation wrong."

Asuna shook her head. "It's not that. Where did you learn it? I never told anyone my name."

With a smirk, Kirito thought inwardly. _'I forgot that even with all the strength she displayed during the fight, she's still just a novice_.' He pointed up with his index finger. "If you look at the top left corner of your vision, right about here, you should see two more hit point gauges right below yours. There are two names written there."

Squinting her eyes, Asuna looked to where Kirito was pointing. "Kirito… and Zuko…" she read. "So your name's Kirito?"

Kirito grinned again. "Yup, that's me. The another name belongs to that lunkhead of a teammate we had during the battle. Something tells me that he will be leaving the party soon; once he realizes that he hasn't done that yet." As if right on cue, Zuko's name disappeared from the top left corners of both Kirito's and Asuna's vision. "And there he goes."

Asuna laughed slightly to herself. "So our names were there the whole time. How silly of me not to notice."

Turning back to the stairs, Kirito took a single step. "You're going to be really strong someday, you know. If someone you trust ever invites you to join a guild, don't turn them down. There are limits to what a solo player can accomplish."

"But what about you? Or Zuko? You're both solo players," she protested.

The black haired swordsman didn't answer. Instead he simply raised his hand again to bring up the party menu. His finger hovered over the 'Disband Party' option granted to the party leader for a moment. Narrowing his eyes sadly, he confirmed the action and walked through the dark gap of the already opened stone doors to reach the next floor.


	9. Errands and Sidequests

A/N: Please Enjoy and Review

**Chapter 9 – Errands and Sidequests**

"And why am I here again?" demanded the Blue Spirit as he sat uncomfortably on a luxurious red velvet sofa covered with padded heart designs.

"Patience," came a sultry voice from behind a thin changing wall decorated with patterns of four leaf clovers, cards, and dice.

The Blue Spirit shifted slightly in his seat. "Patience is a quality I have little need for. Vengeance is swift."

Lady Luck emerged from behind the changing wall wearing a dark purple evening gown that left very little to the imagination. "Like what you see?" she asked with a seductive wink.

Turning his head away, the Blue Spirit scoffed as he got up to leave. "Is this what you wanted from me? I may be bold, but I'm not stupid. I have no desire to give Death a reason to separate my head from my shoulders."

The entrance to the chamber was suddenly barred shut with heavy iron poles as the Blue Spirit reached for the handle. "You think that this will stop me?" Pulling out a set of Dao broadswords from the scabbard on his back, a whirlwind of slashes was unleashed on the barricade. Sheathing his weapons, the bars shattered as the Blue Spirit slammed the blades down. As he reached for the handle a second time, another set of heavy iron bars blocked his way once more. He growled lowly in irritation. Walking back to where Lady Luck sat on a lavish leather chair, the Blue Spirit slumped back down onto the sofa across from her.

"There are many who would kill for the opportunity to be in my chambers," smirked Lady Luck as she waved her hand over the coffee table between them. Multiple plates of elegant looking finger sandwiches, cakes, and treats appeared.

The Blue Spirit shrugged, "I've killed for less."

Lady Luck's smile wavered for a moment at that slight, but she let it go.

Placing his feet onto the table, shoving food out of the way as he did so, the Blue Spirit inquired, "So what is so important that the high and mighty Mistress of Fortune requests my cultured presence?"

Taking an untouched, finely cut sandwich from one of the platters still on the table, Lady Luck sat back in her chair. "I need a job done. One that I think you'll enjoy."

"I seriously doubt that," replied the Blue Spirit in a huff.

A small, neatly wrapped box appeared on the center of the coffee table. "I'm no one's errand boy!" he snarled as he drew his blades again and slammed them down on the package.

With a flash of light, his attack rebounded and left the gift box unharmed as the Blue Spirit was flipped over the plush red velvet sofa he had been sitting on. The large piece of furniture landed on top of him. With a growl of fury, he ripped apart the sofa.

"Now if you had been patient, that wouldn't have happened," teased Lady Luck with a melodious voice. "I need to be sure that this gift makes it to my little Zuko-wuko."

A kunai sank deeply down into the armrest of her dark leather chair. "No."

Unimpressed, Lady Luck pulled out the throwing knife and used it to cut off a piece of chocolate cake from the bounty of desserts in front of her. "Could you please stop ruining all my furnishings?"

"I'm not doing anything that could possibly help that troublesome brat!" retorted the Blue Spirit with finality.

"Oh I think you will," replied Lady Luck as she happily took a bite of her scrumptious pastry. "Otherwise, it might just get back to Lord Death that you were in my chambers taking advantage of little defenseless me."

"Deceitful witch," jeered the Blue Spirit as he picked up the tiny gift wrapped box. "What's inside it?"

A devious grin spread across Lady Luck's face; a smile that was all the more pronounced on her drop-dead gorgeous features. Softly she answered, "Temptation."

* * *

It had been one week since the clearing of the first floor. In that time, the news of the brave actions of the Illfang raid party had spread like wildfire. The raid members, holding true to gamer selfishness, downplayed the extent of Kirito's and Zuko's actions during the battle. There was no reason to give credit to two cheating beta testers anyways, they reasoned. Kibaou took it upon himself actually to belittle and discredit both elite players as often as he could when he answered questions from his recollections of the fight for eager listeners.

Still, despite how the battle went, the fact remained that the initial floor had been cleared and for the first time since the official launch of the game, the situation didn't seem quite so hopeless. Players flocked to the second floor main town of Urbus once the teleport gate had been unlocked by the members of the raid party. Shut-ins who had previously locked themselves away at the various inns and hotels within the Town of Beginnings began to venture out into the vast world of Aincrad.

Urbus was nowhere near as large as the Town of Beginnings; however, it was slightly bigger than the last village of the first floor, Tolbana Town. The city itself was excavated from a flat-topped mountain and rested within a crater. The city gates and walls were comprised of the earthen outer rim of the encircling ridgeline. Buildings within Urbus had been carved straight from the limestone of the mountain. A north-south running road cut right through the heart of the city, dividing the residential district from the market district.

And it was out of one of those shops that Kirito walked into the afternoon sun carrying a steamed potato. "Hot!" he exclaimed as he took a big bite without checking the temperature first. Almost dropping his meal, the black haired swordsman scrambled to catch the juggling spud. Swallowing a piece, he noted, "Delicious."

Out of the corner of his eye the flicker of an inconspicuous faded brown cloak caught his attention. Arching his head to the right, he spied a familiar looking olive haired girl running towards the entrance of town. Before he could call out to her, he detected that she was not alone. Two figures were running along the rooftops in an attempt to cut her off. "Are those two supposed to be ninjas?" he muttered. Both figures wore cloth wrapped completely around their heads so that only their eyes showed.

Kirito looked at the still steaming potato wrapped in paper that he was holding and then back at his fleeing friend. Sighing, he dropped his food and took off in pursuit. '_You owe me lunch after this_,' he griped inwardly.

The main gate was only a couple of meters away when Argo sensed, rather than saw, one of her pursuers leaping to tackle her to the ground. With a slight of the wrist, she grabbed an NPC passerby and switched positions with the hapless traveler. Hearing the twisting of limbs and the shouts of outrage behind her, the olive haired information broker grinned. "Got to do better than that to catch me kid!" she shouted over her shoulder.

In her boasting, she almost didn't see the barrels of fruit tumbling out from their stall to block her path. With a jump and a twist, Argo used the falling containers to hop over the scattered produce and get on top of the market shops. "Nice try!" she mocked towards her second pursuer, who was still back on the ground level. With that, she leapt over the outer wall and left the city.

Before too long though, her pursuers were already back on her tail. "You guys just don't quit do you?" she grumbled as she ran down the mountainside.

"Not until you tell us the location of the extra skill!" demanded the taller of the two pursuers.

"Not a chance!" shot back Argo as she continued to flee.

"But we said that we would pay your ridiculously high fee!" countered the other pursuer.

"Your money's no good!" she retorted. _'I can't believe I just said that…_' her inner voice complained.

Reaching the bottom of the mountain, Argo darted down the left path towards a series of outcropped rocks. Weaving in and out of the area, she eventually ended up staring down three separate large boulders barring her forward range of travel. "Really? How cliché is this?" she groaned as she heard her pursuers stop at the dead end's opening.

"You've got nowhere left to run," chuckled the tall pursuer.

"Tell us what we want to know, and we'll let you go," added the short pursuer.

"And there's the standard threats," replied Argo as she fitted her iron claws onto her arm. "Now all that's left is…"

"Hey! Leave her alone you chumps!" called out Kirito from atop one of the boulders that was blocking Argo's way.

"And there's my timely champion," smirked the olive haired information broker to herself.

The two pursuers hesitated. A single girl they could handle, but this interloper standing on top of the rocks looked formidable. However before either group could make a move, one of the large odd shaped boulders shifted. Reassembling itself, the stone shifted to take humanoid form. "Look out! That's a golem!" called out Kirito from his perch. Laying flat on his stomach, he reached down and offered Argo his hand.

Taking the lifeline, the olive haired information broker allowed herself to be pulled up to safety. "Hey! Not so fast!" shouted the taller of the two pursuers.

The fleshly constructed golem smashed his fist down on the ground to create a large crater with his brutal strength. "We'll be back to get you to talk!" exclaimed the shorter pursuer as the two ran away from the threat blocking their way.

"I hope you're not expecting a kiss as reward," joked Argo with a laugh as she addressed her rescuer.

"What are you talking about now?!" protested Kirito, suddenly flustered.

Argo grinned widely with a toothy smile. "So you where then!" she continued to tease. Placing a finger under her chin, she thought about it for a moment. "Five hundred Col."

"I'm not paying for a kiss!" countered Kirito. Then his face got really red. "I didn't even want one in the first place!"

Laughing aloud, Argo punched him lightly in the shoulder. "You're so easy to tease." The golem before them started to look around now that his initial quarry had fled. "Maybe we should finish this conversation elsewhere though. I rather not have to fight a golem right now."

A couple of minutes later, the two were walking down another mountain path. "So who were those two?" asked the black haired swordsman.

"A couple of wanna-be ninjas" replied Argo with a sigh. "They were from the beta test. Both were part of a guild that like to role play as those shadow warriors. People pretending to be something they're not are never any good."

"They seemed to know you," Kirito continued to press. "What did they want?"

The olive haired information broker grinned. "First one's free. Follow-up questions are a hundred Col each."

This time it was the black haired swordsman's turn to sigh. Digging out the money, he said, "Fine, I'll bite. What did they want?"

Pocketing the coin, Argo continued, "Somehow they found out about the extra skill on this floor and that I was the only one who knew its location."

The black haired swordsman raised an eyebrow in interest. "You don't say." He sent over another payment.

"It's called the Martial Arts Skill. It will increase your overall strength and hand-to-hand combat ability in the game as you level it up. However, it is a limited skill; only ten people are allowed to have the skill at any given time in game. Hence why I keep the location a secret. You know how selfish players are. If word got out about it, then it might cause people to start fighting amongst themselves with players PKing each other to open back up slots after the limit has been reached." Argo thought for a moment. "Though, since you are a friend, I could be tempted to take you there for the right price."

Kirito mentally debated the offer over for a moment. An extra skill that would boost his overall combat ability? It sounded really appealing. Nevertheless, this was Argo he was talking to. She may be his friend, but he was sure that she would still charge him an arm and a leg for the information. Could be worth it though. "Alright Argo, how much will this set me back?"

"Three thousand Col," came the simple answer.

Kirito raised another eyebrow. "Not trying to argue my luck, but that's pretty low, especially for you. What's the catch?"

Without replying, the olive haired information broker starting walking away with a smirk, knowing that the black haired swordsman would follow now that the hook had already been cast. Sure enough, with a groan Kirito jogged to catch up.

* * *

The front door bell chimed once as Zuko opened the door to the bakery. "Good afternoon Piri," he greeted the baker as he approached the counter. "Just the usual again today."

Pulling out two curry breads from the display shelf, Piri rang up the purchase. "Ever since I learned this recipe, it's all you seem to order."

Roma hopped up onto the counter and stared longingly at the new selections of bread. "At least this cutie pie loves to try new things," she smiled as she hugged the tiny kit warmly. Roma endured the embrace because she knew that a free food treat usually accompanied such displays from the passionate baker.

"You look hungry; here try this. It's a loaf of rice bread that I perfected the recipe for this morning." Nabbing the offered treat hungrily in her jaw, Roma quickly tore into her afternoon snack.

"Every time I stop by here, you spoil her," grumbled Zuko as he bit into his own curry bread.

"And yet you still show up every other day," smiled Piri as she placed Roma back onto the counter. "I really appreciate it too. Without your business, I probably would have had to shut this store down a long time ago."

Looking around, the fire prince noted, "This place is off the beaten path."

"I'm positioned completely out of the way from the main roads," complained Piri. "With no extra money to spend on advertising, I can't compete with the larger stores in the market district. And there's nothing else nearby to draw new customers to come to this area to shop."

"And that's one of the main reasons why I like this place," stated Zuko as he finished his first curry bread and picked up the second one. "I don't really like crowds. If it's my business that's keeping this store going, then I'll be sure to come around more often."

"Thank you," replied Piri gratefully. "You know, there's a standing quest that all merchants have for adventurers. If they provide enough funds, then they can buy into a business to level it up and expand its influence to open up new stores in towns and villages on higher level floors. Though, that's probably too much of me to ask of a single player like yourself."

Shrugging, Zuko got up to leave. Pausing for a moment he pointed back to the display shelves. "Wrap a couple more of those up for me, to go." As the female baker handed him his food, the fire prince thanked her and departed.

Walking out into the vacant side street, the young firebender scanned the immediate area. For the first time, he took notice of the boarded up windows and empty shopping displays from the few other shops that had previously been in the area. "Guess this tiny shopping zone really was too far out of the way to generate any real revenue," he muttered.

As he started to walk towards the main streets, he felt the weight of his short sword strike against his side. "I should get this crumbly thing replaced or repaired before I head out again," he grumbled. In the week since his iron short sword had broken during the fight against Illfang, Zuko had gone through four other run-of-the-mill swords.

"They were all the same model as the one I had previously too," he noted as he examined his blade. "Lisbeth really must have had an eye for picking out quality weaponry from the junk they sell in these stores."

Entering the main marketing district, Zuko ventured over to the first blacksmith shop he saw. "These types of stores are all the same anyway. Maybe I should buy a spare weapon this time too."

"What can I do for you today?" asked the weapon vendor as he stood in front of his store.

Placing his iron short sword on the counter of the open air stall window, Zuko directed, "I need another one of these."

Examining the weapon, the weapon vendor nodded. "Of course, that shouldn't be a problem. Though, might I interest you in something stronger? We just developed a new method of refining metal to reinforce the structure of the blade."

"Fine," replied Zuko.

"I will have to charge you extra of course, you understand?" smiled the vendor. Zuko didn't reply, instead he only placed more Col on the counter. Grinning again, the vendor called out behind him. "Hey newbie! Go tell Doug to craft another one of those steel blades! I've got an interested customer up here."

A female voice answered his request. "Go tell him yourself! I'm still busy organizing the mess of a storage room you two chuckleheads have." Roma's ears perked up at the sound of the voice as Zuko looked at his pet.

The weapon vendor struggled to keep his smile in front of his potential customer. "We hired you out of the goodness of our hearts when you said you wanted to learn the blacksmithing craft. This type of grunt work is what apprentices do."

Emerging from the storage room, the female voice rebuttaled, "You hired me because you two are too lazy to keep this place organized. And Doug's been the only one to show me how to become a smith, not you."

Darting pass the weapon vendor, Roma charged into the back of the shop. "Hey wait! Control your pet!"

The tiny kit pounced on top of the figure walking to the front of the store. "Whoa! What the?! Roma, is that you?!"

Golden orbs met pink as Zuko locked eye contact with Lisbeth. "You!" they both exclaimed as they pointed at one another.

Recovering first, Lisbeth yelled, "Get out! We're not doing business with the likes of you!"

"Now just wait a minute," started the weapon vendor.

"I've already paid for the sword!" shot back Zuko. "I'm going to get what I paid for."

"What are you even doing here in the first place?!" growled Lisbeth. "Shouldn't you be out there on the second floor getting other people in trouble?!"

"I've only fought with one other group once since you and your brother! And that was for the floor boss fight!" retorted the fire prince.

"Don't! Don't you mention my brother!" screamed Lisbeth. "He died because you didn't want to help him!"

"He died saving you! He knew that not all of us were going to make it out of that forest! He made his choice! Just like I had to make mine!"

"And what about my choice?! Both of you didn't even bother to listen to what I wanted! We should have stayed and all fought together!"

"And we would have all died together too!"

"That's better than living without my brother!"

"What about your grandparents?! They would have lost both of their grandchildren that day instead of just one; if Mark and I didn't make the choices we did."

Angrily, Lisbeth reached for the first thing she could get her hands on, which was a small metal crafting hammer laying on a nearby shelf. Throwing the instrument at Zuko as hard as she could, she shouted, "Enough! I told you before I never wanted to talk to you again!"

Catching the anticipated thrown object with his right hand, the fire prince stated lowly, "I told you I'm truly sorry. If there was anything I could have done differently…"

"You could have stayed and fought!" growled Lisbeth as she threw a small buckler shield next.

Catching the shield with his left hand this time, Zuko set both objects onto the counter without saying another word. Lisbeth stormed off back into the storage room where the sounds of things crashing and breaking loudly echoed in her wake.

Excusing himself, the weapon vendor rushed to try and prevent as much property damage to his merchandise as he could from the maelstrom of rage unleashed within his store.

"She dyed her hair pink," noted Zuko as he stared at the back rooms to the blacksmith shop. "I guess that was one way she's coping with her loss." Pulling out one of the bargain swords from the barrels up front, the fire prince secured the weapon to his belt. "This will do for now." Leaving the store, he started walking in the direction of the inn he last saw Hannes and Anka at, more than a month ago.

It took some searching, but the young firebender eventually found it. However the clerk at the front desk recalled that that party had checked out a couple of weeks ago. Without any other leads on where the two might be, Zuko discarded the notion of checking up on them and continued to wander throughout the Town of Beginnings.

* * *

"Here we are," announced Argo as the duo finishing climbing the small mountain to reach a flimsy looking straw hut swaying back and forth in the high attitude winds.

"Here?" parroted Kirito doubtfully. "This place looks like it's going to tip over any second."

Walking up to the entrance, the olive haired information broker waved him forward. "Come on you scaredy cat. It's fine."

Entering the straw hut, Kirito immediately took notice of a frail old hermit meditating on a worn old carpet in the center of the tiny structure. "I've been waiting a long time for a worthy discipline. I wonder how well you will fair," stated the old hermit without opening his eyes.

"I'm here for the Martial Arts skill," replied Kirito with authority.

"Hmph," grunted the hermit as he opened one of his eyes. "Many have attempted to learn my technique. Many have failed." His one open eye narrowed knowingly at the information broker standing behind Kirito.

"I can handle it," grinned the black haired swordsman as he held up his sword proudly.

"You can leave that here," ordered the hermit as he slowly rose to his feet and walked pass Kirito on his way outside. "You won't be needing something so cumbersome."

The swordsman glanced back as his innocent looking partner. "Yeah…I don't think I'll be leaving my Anneal Blade just lying around. I'll put in my inventory instead." However as he tried to store his weapon, a rejection screen kept popping up. "What?!"

"I told you to leave your weapon in my hut," repeated the old hermit as he pointed to a weapon rack in the far corner. "It will not be touched by anyone else as long as it is in my possession."

Placing the blade in the sword rack, Kirito still looked uncertain. "That's a really powerful, really hard to acquire weapon. It better still be there when I return."

The hermit did not answer and walked outside as Argo and Kirito both followed. The old recluse led them to a giant indestructible looking boulder sitting a few paces away. "Will you accept my quest?"

"Yeah, bring it on!" boasted Kirito as he psyched himself up.

Turning back to the boulder, the elderly hermit stated, "In order to learn the Martial Arts skill, you must break this boulder with only your bare hands and your strength of will."

"You're joking?!" retorted the black haired swordsman. "There's no way that's possible at this low a level. My strength statistic can't be anywhere near high enough to pull that off yet."

The aged recluse bowed lowly at the boulder before stepping back into a horse stance. Focusing inwardly, the old man's physical energy seemed to glow as he concentrated intensely. Without warning, he lashed out with an open palm strike from his right fist. "Break!" shouted the hermit with determination. Time seemed to freeze as his palm made contact with the boulder. Then, suddenly, the entire rock exploded outwards as shrapnel from the force of the blow.

"No way!" shouted Kirito as he observed the event. Then he felt a light brush wipe across his face quickly a couple of times. "What the?"

The old hermit stepped back holding a small paintbrush and bowl of black paint. "One other thing, I gave you the mark of the beast. Now you can focus your inner strength easier." Putting the painting supplies away, he added slyly, "Oh, and the mark cannot be removed until you complete this quest. Good luck." The elderly reclusive walked back towards his straw hut.

"Wait, what?!" demanded Kirito as his hands reached up to touch his face. Spinning around, he was greeted by the biggest cheshire wide grin on Argo's face. "You! You knew this was going to happen!"

"And it was totally worth it! You look like a cute little monster with those whisker marks!" burst out the olive haired information broker as she doubled over in a laughing fit. "I can't, I can't breathe…" she managed as she continued to crack up over Kirito's new look.

Digging a mirror out of his pack, the black haired swordsman examined his misfortune. Three pencil thin black whisker marks ran down either side of his face like a one would see on a poorly drawn cat. There was no way he could let anyone else see him like this; especially not after that elaborately, cool boast he gave at the end of the first floor dungeon. He would be a laughing stock for the rest of his time trapped in this game.

"If only I had a portable image crystal!" whined Argo. "This would sell like hotcakes among the female population!"

Suddenly the whisker marks his friend's face jumped to the front of his mind. "Wait! Those marks, you got them while trying to perform this quest during the beta test yourself didn't you?"

"Bingo!" smirked Argo. "That's why I knew where this place was. After the beta ended, I lost my whisker marks during the official launch of the game. But it felt like something was missing though. So I've been painting them on myself daily. What can I say? I like the look."

"But yours are so much better drawn!" complained Kirito. "I can't leave this place looking like this!"

"Then you better learn how to break that boulder," pointed out Argo as she gestured back to where the rock once stood.

Looking at where she was indicating, the swordsman was surprised to see another boulder already waiting in place of the former stone. "I couldn't beat this quest, but I'm sure that you can, eventually."

Grimacing, Kirito walked up to the indestructible looking boulder. The surface was rough to the touch and obviously weighed a ton. Putting his entire body weight against the stone, he couldn't even get it to budge an inch from its current position. Sighing, he stepped back. "Alright, well here goes nothing."

Settling into a horse stance like the old hermit had before him, Kirito closed his eyes and focused his concentration. He visualized the boulder exploding after he struck it. Snapping his eyes open, he shouted, "Break!" and lashed out with a closed hand strike against the indomitable rock.

Time slowed as he struck the boulder and Argo did a double take as she stood there watching the grin on Kirito's face. "Argh!" screamed the black haired swordsman in anguish as he held his swollen wrist in pain.

"Pfft," laughed Argo. "I thought you somehow managed to do it on the first try. That would have been crazy." She examined the boulder closely. "Not even a hairline crack. You need to try harder."

"Are you insane! That's solid stone! How the heck am I supposed to manage this?!" shouted back Kirito as he shook out his hand.

"Well for starters, in the real world, all the phalanges and metacarpals in your hand would probably be broken from that hit," explained Argo matter of factly.

"Meta-what?" repeated Kirito, confused.

"Metacarpals, they are the five bones that are in your palm," lectured the olive haired information broker. "And phalanges are the fourteen tiny bones that make up the five fingers in one of your hands. Don't you pay any attention in class?"

"That's a little higher than my education level…" grumbled Kirito to himself.

"Anyway, what I'm getting at is that it looks like you're free to keep trying to break this boulder with your fists. Though, I would recommend an open palm strike next time. At least that's how the old hermit managed it," finished up Argo. With a wave, she added, "Good luck!"

"Hey?!" protested Kirito. "That's it?! You're just going to leave me up here?"

"I'm not going to waste all my valuable time up here all day long," smirked Argo with another cheshire grin. "Don't worry, I'll be back to check up on your progress! Have fun Kiriemon!"

"Kiriemon…" choked out Kirito in humiliation. Turning back to the stone, he punched it as hard as he could manage. Walking down the mountain, Argo flinched in mock pain as she heard the black haired swordsman cry out in anguish a second time.

* * *

"Guess it's time to get back up to the second floor," muttered Zuko as he headed back towards the teleport gate near the center of the Town of Beginnings. "I should have enough good food stocked up to last us a while." Roma seemed to nod as she walked alongside him.

"Step right up people! Find the pebble among the three swirling cups and win some money! Nothing to it!" shouted out a nearby caller for a gambling table set up on the main street. "Think the eye is faster than the hand? Or is the hand faster than the eye?"

They pair of swindlers had already seemed to draw a decent sized crowd of both NPCs and players alike. Zuko pressed forward, walking pass them without bothering to pay too much attention until Roma darted off to see what was happening. "Hey wait!" he called out after her.

The tiny kit worked her way to the front of the crowd. "So any brave volunteers willing to try their skill?" urged the caller. "Only a hundred Col to start! And each round becomes double or nothing!"

"They're both kids," noted Zuko as he reached the assembly of onlookers. Both the caller and the swindler shifting the cups around looked to only be about eight or nine years old.

"I'll take you little tykes up on your small game," smirked a hefty looking middle aged player. His companions next to him cheered the volunteer on as they pushed him forward.

"Very good sir!" stated the caller as he welcomed the player up to the table. "The game's pretty simple. Just pick a cup after my buddy here swirls them around for a bit and if the little pebble is underneath, then you're a winner!"

"Yeah, yeah, I've seen this style of game before, just get on with it kid," replied the middle aged player.

Nodding to his partner, the caller placed the pebble underneath one of the cups and the second swindler started to shift the cups slowly, eventually reaching a decent speed that was still very manageable to follow.

As he stopped, the caller asked, "Now which one is it under?"

"This really is a kid's game isn't it?" sneered the middle aged player as he tapped the top of one of the cups. "If that's as fast as you can go, then I'll going to win a lot of money here."

Turning over the cup, the sitting swindler revealed the pebble underneath it. "Excellent choice sir!" cheered the caller. "Are you going to cut and run with your two hundred Col or keep going?"

"Silly runt, of course I'm going to keep on playing," laughed the player. "This is the easiest money I've made all day."

"Let's give him a hand everyone!" announced the caller to the crowd. "He's going to continue!" This solicitation sparked a couple of the gathered people to clap and cheer at the start of the excitement.

Picking up Roma so that she could see better, Zuko whispered to his pet, "I've seen this kind of gimmick out on the streets of several Fire Nation towns multiple times before. This oaf doesn't seem to have any idea that he's already being played." Roma looked up at her master curiously.

"They'll let him win the first few games easily enough; that way he can build up his overconfidence over the diluted notion that he'll always win. However, once the money reaches a certain point that they're comfortable with, they'll pull some sort of trick to ensure that they'll win and he'll lose," Zuko continued. "The fact that they're kids and he's an adult will only help this act of theirs along."

Sure enough, the middle aged player won the next several sets of games without too much effort; his companions cheering him on the whole time. "Congratulations sir!" smiled the caller as he lifted up the tiny pebble again. "That's three thousand, two hundred Col you've won so far. Care to keep going?"

"Hold up there kid," stopped the player. "How do I know that you even have the money to keep on going yourselves? Next time, I'm going to win sixty four hundred Col. Can you pay out?"

The caller stepped back in mock hurt. "Your words wound me sir. To act as if we humble sportsmen wouldn't be able to support our own game."

"All the same brat, let's see the money," prompted the player as he slammed a meaty fist down onto the flimsy wooden table the pair had set up.

"Seeing is believing I guess," summarized the caller as he nodded to his partner. Lifting up a nondescript money bag, the second swindler placed it onto the table with force. "There's our end good sir. Three thousand, two hundred pieces of Col, as promised."

Placing his own bag of money onto the street table, the middle aged player smirked, "I guess you kids are good for it after all. Alright then," turning back to his companions he finished, "After this next game, let's all go get dinner, my treat."

With his head turned, he failed to see the slight nod the caller gave to his partner. An action that did not escape Zuko's watching eye. "Here it comes Roma. The game's already over and the chase is about to begin."

The cup shifting swindler slammed one of the cups over the little pebble, immediately drawing everyone's attention back to the table. What followed next could only be explained as a flurry of hand motions as the whirlwind of cup shifts became impossible to follow with the naked eye.

"Hold up, slow down there," muttered the hapless victim as he gripped the edge of the table with both of his hands while his eyes scoured the rapid twists and turns of the cups. "How are you even spinning these things this fast?!"

In response to the panicked cries of the victim, the performing swindler only sped up his motions. The cyclone of moves completely unfollowable to all gathered around the table. The caller only smiled wider in response to the amazement of the crowd. With a thunderous stop, the cups were all stopped at once, each looking identical to the next.

"Whoa," muttered Zuko as the swindler finished. "Even I couldn't keep up with that. He's better at this than I thought he would be."

"What…what kind of trick was that?" stuttered the middle aged player as his panicked eyes stared at each of the cups, desperately trying to spot any difference that could give away which had the pebble underneath it. "Where did that speed come from?"

"And where is the pebble good sir?" smiled the caller. "You've got about ten seconds to make a choice."

"Huh?!" spewed out the hapless victim. "There wasn't a time limit before!"

"Of course there was," grinned the caller. "You always just picked so fast, that I never needed to give you the count. Six seconds." Turning to the crowd, he urged, "Let's cheer him on people!"

Amidst the cheers and call outs from the gathered assembly of players and NPCs alike, the middle aged player started to panic. Especially after they all started to count down with the devious caller. "Four! Three! Two! One!"

With desperation, the hapless victim threw over one of the cups to reveal an empty table. He could hear a mixture of disappointed sighs and mocking laugher from the crowd behind him.

"Ah! Too bad good sir! Better luck next time!" consoled the caller. As he gathered up the bag of Col that the player had placed onto the table, he addressed the crowd. "Well, that's all the time we have today folks! Thank you for watching! Hope you enjoyed the show!"

With a backswing of his hand, the middle aged player knocked over the two remaining cups. The crowd gasped as both overturned cups revealed empty table space. "Hey, what are you trying to pull here kid!" demanded the enraged victim as he slammed his meaty fist onto the table again.

From the force of the blow, the bag of Col the swindlers had placed onto the table shifted and spilled open to reveal nothing but rocks. "You dirty little cheats!" shouted the infuriated player as he flipped the entire table over, smashing the wooden stand into pieces as it collided with the cobblestone road.

The two swindlers backed up next to the line of bushes behind them as the angered player and his companions drew closer. "Well, it's been fun and we hate to have to cut and run, but Now!" the caller shouted as droves of kids exploded out from behind the shrubberies.

"What?!" exclaimed the middle aged player and his companions as they were overrun by the sea of rascals, toppling onto the cobblestone road from the surprise. However, the mischievous rush didn't stop there. The charge continued into the crowd of people who all shouted in surprise at the onslaught.

Zuko felt several children scuttle near him as well in the confusion. Stepping back, he let the scoundrels run past him without any conflict on his part. It wasn't his job to police this rabble after all. "Well this was actually pretty unexpected," he commented as he watched the street urchins finish up their charge and push pass the multitude of players and NPCs. As quickly as they had arrived, the rascals dissipated into the various side alleyways and away from the crowds on the main road.

Shaking his head at the incident, Zuko whispered to Roma once more. "And that's why I don't get involved with con artists. Way too troublesome." The stories of a thieving little earthbending friend of his invaded his memories. "Something tells me that Toph would have gotten along quite well with these kids, if the tales Sokka told me about their time in the Fire Nation are true."

Turning in the direction of the teleport gate, Zuko placed Roma back onto the road. "Time to go."

"My wallet!" cried out a man from the crowd. "It's missing!"

"My bracelet!" added a woman from elsewhere among the assembly.

Various other shout outs erupted as well as numerous players and NPCs reported to have lost either money or some valuable on their person. Zuko's hand instantly shot down to his own wallet. "Damn it!" he groaned. "They got me too."

Then another thought entered his head and Zuko quickly patted himself down. His Water Tribe necklace was still secured tightly around his neck and underneath his tunic while his White Lotus Pai Sho tile was still resting protected within its pouch on his person. Then the fire prince's expression fell. The Earth Kingdom pearl handled dagger, ever vigilant at his side, was gone.


End file.
